Russia Wants Chinese Assistance In Microelectronics Production
Likely to lead to increased Russia – China – India – Brazil Cooperations
Yuri Borisov, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, has stated that Moscow is counting on Beijing’s assistance in the production of microelectronics, while speaking at the Engineers of the Future forum, held at Tula State University.
Borisov said that the closure of Samsung and TSMC microelectronics factories in Russia is a problem from which they will look for assistance. “We are counting on the help of our colleagues in China, who were concerned about technological sovereignty in this area before us. They began to start this program ten years ago and have invested huge amounts of money.”
He stressed that as long as Russia does not have its own production, it is impossible to create competitive projects.
According to Borisov, Russia does not have sufficient microelectronics high-tech production, while the industry assets in Zelenograd are three or four generations behind the current level of development in this area. He stated that due to sanctions, Russia’s leading designers lost the opportunity to implement their projects.
But cooperation is intensifying, including Russian State support. The Russian government has launched the “Sustainable Production: Renewal Strategies” concept, which will concentrate on digital manufacturing, energy technologies, industrial IT, and technologies for cities and the production of components. Part of this is the VII Russian-Chinese Expo which has been taking place in Yekaterinburg – with 500 Chinese nationals attending.
Denis Manturov, the Minister for Russian Industry and Trade has stated that Russia’s 2023 Industrial Development Fund (IDF) will be recapitalized with an additional ₽25 billion (US$280 million) from contributions to the state budget from the sale of foreign assets in Russia. He called the IDF a comprehensive investment platform: in 2022, a record amount of loans was provided from the FRP to ₽140 billion (US$1.55 billion). In 2023, there will be up to ₽100 billion (US$1.2 billion) available.
Manturov stated that the Russian future belongs to the production of the entire range of its own high-tech products, adding that “It must be competitive not only within the country, but also abroad, which requires fundamentally new approaches and a completely different level of interaction between science, industry and the state.”
Sanctions may prohibit Chinese companies exporting their microelectronic products to Russia. But this may not prevent alliances between Chinese and Russian engineers working together on projects in Russia itself and help Russia develop its own industry. Russia is also reaching out to other friendly countries, with India and Brazil also sources of assistance. It should be noted that all are space exploration powers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that sanctions on the import of microelectronics have become one of the main directions of the Western sanctions against Russia. The sanctions may well delay Russian development in this field but with state support and other interested actors the result can be expected to be the emergence of new Joint Ventures and some technologies that may later be cordoned off from the West itself.
Source: Gazeta with additional comments by Chris Devonshire-Ellis
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