The Moscow Times, 11.10.2010 Chipping in
Russian microchip firms will receive a helping hand from the government in the form of tax benefits and massive state orders.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered state-owned Minpromtorg, Minoboroni, Roscosmos and Rosatom to order Russian-made microchips instead of foreign ones in an announcement last month.
The government has also chipped in by making passports, migration cards and identity cards contain microchips starting in 2012. And the following year, transport cards and food labels will also have locally produced tracking chips in them.
Moreover, all state companies will have to use Russian-made microchips unless foreign brands are at least 15 per cent more expensive.
’Protection required’
Russia-based analysts say the country’s micro-processing market needs a measure of protectionism to survive.
“Today, domestic microelectronics is not in demand in the consumer sector, as we don’t produce cellphones and other electronic appliances which could employ those microchips,” said Yevgeny Golosnoi, a senior telecoms analyst at Troika Dialog. “So only by forming state orders for defense and other state sectors can domestic microelectronics be launched for development.”
The initiators of the project, Rosnano and Sistema, say that giving preference to local companies will boost the market and make it profitable to produce as well as sell on the mass market.
Mikron, one of the main factories of Sistema-owned Sitronics, which produces chips for a range of uses, including metro cards, had been supplying Asia – but says the Russian market is starting to grow.
“The demand for local produce should be increased with government regulation of the market targeting the localisation of semiconductor suppliers,” said Gennady Krasnikov, general director of Mikron. “Currently about 85 per cent of semiconductors in Russia are imported.”
Analysts say that micro-processing is a key part of the government’s innovation plans to develop modern technology.
Nobel prize
The awarding of the Nobel Prize for Physics to Russian-born scientists Andrei Geim and Konstantin Novoselov for inventing graffen, a carbon-based material, is an example of the sector’s potential.
Troika’s Golosnoi said that although Russia currently imports all its intellectual technology from giants like Intel, the support could help it compete with China and Taiwan.
But some companies say that only those with close ties to the state will be able to benefit from the government’s support.
“Some companies set up the technical requirements and the rules to suit their needs, so this situation should be looked into by the [Federal] Anti-Monopoly Service,” said Alexei Tabolkin, general director of Zelenograd-based microelectronics firm Angstrem.
Angstrem has already had problems getting credit from state-owned VEB and getting a state order of microchips for Glonass devices, he added.
Moscow region hub
Rosnano, meanwhile, has announced it will team up with Mikron to create a new microelectronics centre in the Moscow region.
The new centre will produce nanometre microchips, intellectual surveillance cameras, web cameras and innovative mobile terminals, with the aim of earning more than $600 million by 2017. Rosnano will provide $35 million of the $94 million to be poured into the new microelectronics hub.
“This will be a major step in the development of domestic microelectronics in several segments – production of microchips, web services and intellectual surveillance systems,” said Dmitry Pimkin, general manager at Rosnano.
Previous page