For several years, the Element microelectronics holding has been considering the possibility of building a new factory in Russia to produce chips with a 65 nm topology on 300 mm diameter silicon wafers. The project, codenamed Volga, was planned to be implemented on the territory of the Innopolis special economic zone in Tatarstan.
The key obstacle was a trivial reason – lack of funding. The construction of such an enterprise requires investments of tens of billions of rubles, and sources of funds for launching the project were never found. As a result, the initiative was effectively frozen.
At the same time, attempts to master the 65 nm production process were made back in 2014 – then Element worked on this area together with European partners. However, the project could not be completed.
The situation around Volga may still change after the deal to sell AFC Sistema's stake in the Element holding to Sberbank. The documents are expected to be signed in February 2026.
