Chips are embedded in Rosatom – Newspaper Kommersant No. 5 (7450) dated 01/13/2023

The research and production association Critical Information Systems (NPO KIS), which is part of Rosatom, is preparing for investment transactions in the Russian electronics market, Kommersant learned. The state corporation has established a department of mergers and acquisitions and is negotiating with potential partners, including design centers, computer equipment manufacturers and other technology companies. Through M&A, Rosatom can build a holding company to develop electronics and supply it to the public sector, as opposed to Rostec, market participants say. Experts believe that the nuclear state corporation has enough funds and experience for such a project.

According to a Kommersant source in the microelectronics market, at the end of 2022, NPO KIS, which is part of Rosatom, established a department of mergers and acquisitions, whose representatives are already negotiating “with technology companies, instrument-making organizations and microelectronics developers” about a possible acquisition of business.

The interlocutor of Kommersant, close to a large system integrator, also knows about these plans, adding that the M&A department of NPO KIS was headed by Inna Yumasheva, who until the spring of 2022 led a similar unit in T1 Group. An interlocutor close to Rosatom specifies that Ms. Yumasheva “works in the structures of the state corporation and is engaged in M&A, but not within the framework of NPO KIS.” Rosatom declined to comment.

On the basis of NPO KIS, Rosatom plans to build “a large vertically integrated holding company to work in the electronics and microelectronics market,” says one of Kommersant’s interlocutors. This version is also confirmed by a top manager of a large Russian electronics manufacturer: “They walk around the market and look for companies that they can buy.”

After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, Russian developers of microelectronics and electronics were among the first to appear on the US SDN list, which significantly complicated both the development and production of products. The sanctions, in particular, included chip makers (Baikal Electronics, MCST, Module, etc.), manufacturers of computer equipment, for example, the Aquarius group, as well as foreign structures through which Russian companies planned to arrange the supply of components to the country (see “Kommersant” dated November 14, 2022).

In addition to acquisitions, NPO KIS aims to partner with major Russian electronics manufacturers, says a top manager in the semiconductor market:

“The idea is that existing manufacturers will, in coordination with NPO KIS, develop and produce computer technology and equipment for critical information infrastructure at the request of government customers.”

He adds that “in fact, we are watching the state build a new Rostec, only on the basis of Rosatom.” According to a Kommersant source close to one of the Russian design centers, during the negotiations, representatives of NPO KIS call the company “an operator of critical information infrastructure.”

Building on the basis of Rosatom a manufacturer and developer of microelectronics and electronics, as well as a competence center in this area, is an adequate idea, Yaroslav Petrichkovich, founder of the Elvis SPC, believes: “Rosatom has experience in managing complex technological projects, entering international markets and enough funds to invest in this segment.”

Arseniy Brykin, director of the Basis Consortium of Means, Resources and Technologies for the Production of High-Tech Products, believes that the period when the electronics and microelectronics market is unstable can be favorable for the purchase of assets: capacities, as well as teams of developers and technologists, who, after M&A, still need to be able to keep.

Nikita Korolev