Chipets for everyone – Newspaper Kommersant No. 171 (7372) of 09/16/2022

Chipets for everyone - Newspaper Kommersant No. 171 (7372) of 09/16/2022

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The US Department of the Treasury included Russian design centers and major computer equipment manufacturers, including Baikal Electronics, MCST, Elvis Research and Production Center, Aquarius and Yadro Group companies, in the SDN list. Under such sanctions, computer manufacturers will experience difficulties in launching new production facilities, the construction of which was planned back in 2021, experts warn. Chip makers, sources say, may lose their last opportunity to start producing Russian processors at foreign factories.

US Treasury expanded a list of Russian IT companies subject to blocking sanctions due to hostilities in Ukraine. American companies must curtail all transactions with them by October 15. In particular, the largest Russian manufacturers of processors were included in the SDN list: LLC Baikal Electronics (Baikal), JSC MCST (Elbrus) and JSC SPC Elvis (Skif). Ekaterina Makeeva, partner of A-PRO JSB, notes that back in March, Baikal Electronics, MCST and a number of other specialized companies fell under sectoral sanctions prohibiting the supply of them even if they had a share of American technology, permission from the Bureau of Industrial Safety was required to complete the transaction ( BIS) USA. Now, the lawyer clarifies, we are talking about blocking any assets and a complete ban on any transactions other than those permitted by the license (usually to stop a business).

Until today, American manufacturers were prohibited from providing certain programs and technologies to design centers, but other companies – for example, banks and transport and logistics companies – could continue to work with him, NSP partner Sergey Glandin explains: “Now, any American business is forbidden to carry out any financial – economic transactions.

The interlocutor of Kommersant in the semiconductor market emphasizes that getting into the SDN list is “extremely painful” for domestic design centers: “In fact, they remain without access to foreign intellectual property – processor architectures, such as ARM, and IP blocks that are used in chip design.

He adds that the new sanctions will also thwart attempts to gain access to foreign factories. Under sectoral sanctions, companies could “set up layer chains and order processors from TSMC or other factories,” now this is impossible, a Kommersant source is sure, emphasizing the significance of the impact of sanctions on bank settlements. Baikal Electronics and MCST declined to comment, while NPC Elvis did not respond to a request.

Also, the largest Russian manufacturers of computer equipment and their subsidiaries were included in the SDN list. These are Aquarius Group LLC and Kernel Fab Dubna LLC (a structure of Yadro Group of Companies). Sources of Kommersant in the Russian IT market believe that getting into the SDN list will complicate the construction of factories for the production of computer equipment and electronics for Yadro and Aquarius. Aquarius started the project only in March, planning to invest about 5 billion rubles. (cm. “Kommersant” dated March 31), while the kernel is in December 2021the volume of investments was estimated at 6 billion rubles.

One of Kommersant’s interlocutors adds that, in addition to American technologies and patents, difficulties may arise with equipment and components: manufacturers and suppliers, even from third countries, most often stop interacting with those on the SDN list, fearing secondary sanctions.

“If domestic companies have managed to purchase and commission all the necessary equipment, they will be able to start production, but it is difficult to say how long it will work without proper maintenance. If they didn’t have time, then the plant may not be able to perform all the necessary operations, ”the Kommersant source explains.

Yadro declined to comment. In Aquarius, they remain calm and optimistic: “We understood that sooner or later this would happen, we were ready – both morally and from the point of view of all production and business processes. The company will continue to operate fully, and we plan to triple production growth by 2025.”

Nikita Korolev, Yuri Litvinenko, Timofey Kornev, Anna Zanina

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