The Russian microelectronics market is estimated at 240–407 billion rubles. This is an entire industry, yet it is sometimes reduced only to processors "like Intel's." What the industry actually represents, how it developed, and where modern domestic developments are applied — "Perviy Tekhnicheskiy" investigated.
The Domestic Chip Industry Originated in Zelenograd
The formation of Soviet microelectronics in the late 1950s is a story worthy of a screen adaptation. In the mid-20th century, the whole world was transitioning from bulky electronic blocks to compact solutions.
Famous participants in the Soviet chip leap were Alfred Sarant and Joel Barr — engineers who came from the USA. In the Soviet Union, they received new names (Philipp Staros and Josef Berg) and became involved in the work of creating small-sized computing machines.
In the late 1950s, Staros and Berg worked in Leningrad. One of the first results was the UM-1 control machine — a small-sized transistor computer for automatic control tasks. At that time, it was an important breakthrough, as such technology could be used not only in computing centers but also in industry, military systems, and aviation.
Staros's and Berg's ideas coincided with the state task of creating a specialized center for the electronic industry. Zelenograd became such a platform. Its construction began in 1958 near Kryukovo station as a new satellite city of Moscow. Initially, it was not conceived as a microelectronics center; there were even plans for light industry development. But in the early 1960s, the concept changed, and the city began to be formed as a scientific and production center for electronics. Zelenograd was an ideal option for the industry — located near Moscow, designed from scratch with institutes, production facilities, and housing for specialists.
Radio physicist Andrey Kolosov was also an important participant in this work. His name is associated with the early justification for the need to transition to new principles for creating radio-electronic equipment and the development of a direction then called molecular electronics.
In Zelenograd, a classic Soviet model was built. The Research Institute of Molecular Electronics created technologies, and the Mikron plant put them into mass production. This link, and in essence, the entire new technological school, was built from scratch by physicist Kamil Valiev. He had to simultaneously solve three tasks: scientific, production, and personnel. The state was the main driver and consumer: defense, communications, computing systems. The entire industry worked as a closed mechanism aimed at strategic independence.
However, microelectronics required the coordination of dozens of factories, research institutes, material suppliers, and training schools. Alexander Shokin took on this function. With experience in the defense industry, Shokin headed the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR for Electronic Technology. Thus, a single center emerged, capable of lobbying the interests of the industry at the very top. Without this, Zelenograd risked remaining just an experiment. The culmination of Shokin's career was the creation and leadership of the Ministry of Electronic Industry of the USSR. Thanks to him, it became an independent, strategic industry.
The first head of the newly created Zelenograd Microelectronics Center was Fyodor Lukin. By that time, he was already involved in radar systems, headed NII-37, and participated in long-range radar detection work for air defense and missile defense systems. Lukin was also a laureate of major state awards, including the Lenin Prize for his work on creating the S-75 mobile anti-aircraft missile system and its introduction into mass production. Philipp Staros had hoped for this position, but in the end, he was assigned the role of deputy for scientific work.
In parallel with Zelenograd, work was carried out at the Riga Semiconductor Device Plant, where engineer Yuri Osokin was solving the problem of transitioning to a semiconductor integrated circuit. This allowed for a radical reduction in equipment size, lower power consumption, and increased reliability. The logical outcome of his work was the R12-2 series — some of the first integrated circuits in the USSR to go into production.
The Collapse of the USSR and the Survival School for Mikron
By the end of the Soviet era, a full-fledged microelectronics school was operating in the country. Mikron stamped chips for defense, space, and the Unified Computer System. But all this power was geared towards a closed economy. When the USSR collapsed, the main system-forming customer disappeared. For an industry dependent on the interaction of hundreds of factories, this was instant paralysis.
In the 1990s, enterprises had to survive in an environment for which they were not prepared. Imported chips were cheaper, more accessible, and updated many times faster. It was economically senseless for domestic electronics manufacturers to wait for their native factory to get up to speed. Production facilities like Mikron survived on remnants of defense orders, targeted export contracts, and desperate modernization of old lines. This was not development, but holding positions.
In the 2000s, when it became easier to "breathe," a seemingly more pragmatic model emerged. Chips were designed domestically and manufactured in foreign factories. This is a common global model, but it carried a vulnerability that is being systematically mitigated at the current stage.
What Russian Microelectronics Lives On Today
The main operating production center of Russian microelectronics remains Mikron in Zelenograd. It produces chips for Mir bank cards, Troika transport cards, electronic passports, RFID tags, and industrial controllers. This is an important part of the technological infrastructure. Mikron works with process technologies from 250 to 90 nm — for comparison, leading global factories have already mastered 3 nm. However, the point is that advanced nanometers are needed in smartphones, laptops, servers — where maximum performance is required. For a chip in a bank card, transport ticket, or industrial sensor, reliability and stable supplies for years to come are more important.
An example of a pragmatic strategy is the first domestic 32-bit MIK32 Amur microcontroller. It is built on the open RISC-V architecture and was not created to compete with Intel in speed. Its task is to read data from sensors, transmit commands, manage power, and control device operation. This is the Russian answer to mass controllers like STM32 — a popular line of control chips from STMicroelectronics, which are used in industrial electronics, household devices, instruments, and automation systems.
The main drama of recent years is the fate of Baikal and Elbrus. Until 2022, the chips were made by the Taiwanese giant TSMC, but this channel was subsequently closed. China began to play a large role. Parallel imports also help meet the needs of the civilian and corporate markets.
Baikal-S is a server ARM processor with 48 cores. In 2025, a large batch was purchased by Russian companies and government agencies. Baikal-U — a 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller for industrial automation, meters, sensors, and the Internet of Things, for which contracts for 1.5 million units were announced in 2026 — looks relevant. At the same time, the company is preparing a line of specialized AI chips, Baikal-AI. Two solutions are expected: Baikal-AI-E1000 for industrial applications and Baikal-AI-D1000 for servers and data centers. The main feature of the project is compatibility with CUDA, Nvidia's software platform, for which many modern solutions for machine learning and neural networks are written.
Elbrus differs from Baikal. In fact, it is MCST's own architecture, dating back to the Soviet school of high-performance computing. Its strong point is a controlled hardware and software environment, which is important for trusted systems, secure workstations, special equipment, industry, and infrastructure. Elbrus-2S3 (designed for TSMC 16 nm) continues to be used in industrial modules, single-board computers, robotics, and communications. MCST also has promising projects. Among them is Elbrus-Next, which was considered a processor for a Russian gaming console; its development was planned for 2026, and production was supposed to be located in China. Another project is Elbrus-B, surpassing analogues from AMD and Intel, according to the developers. The processor is planned for release in 2027.
A separate reason for attention is the Irtysh processors from Tramplin Electronics. A dedicated software environment is being created specifically for the Irtysh architecture. The more cores and threads, the more tasks a processor can perform simultaneously. In the announced Irtysh lineup, this principle is implemented as clearly as possible: the junior C616 model (16 cores, 32 threads) will meet the needs of workstations and universal servers, the mid-range C632 (32 cores, 64 threads) is designed for high-load computing, and the flagship C664 (64 cores, 128 threads) is a bid for heavy server platforms and big data processing.
Key Chip Developers and Manufacturers in Russia
The modern Russian chip market is no longer a monolith, as in Soviet times, but rather an ecosystem of several promising companies. The main production site is Mikron (Element group). Design is carried out by Baikal Electronics, MCST, Milandr, Elvis, Modul, Syntacore, Yadro.
A special circuit works for the defense industry and general industry. These are Rostec, Roselektronika, KRET. Assembly and packaging — that is, placing a finished chip in a protective case with leads — are carried out by GS Nanotech and several other sites. Belarusian Integral remains an important partner in the production of mass, time-tested electronics.
The demand for Russian chips today is enormous. The state, banks, transport, industry — everyone needs components that can be trusted, with a clear origin and reliable supplies. But in processors for ordinary computers, smartphones, powerful graphics, and artificial intelligence systems, competitive advantages with world leaders still need to be achieved. Chip development is always a marathon, where the Russian industry is gaining serious momentum.