Monitors fight for jobs

The Ministry of Industry and Trade and a number of Russian electronics manufacturers are discussing changes in industry regulation. In particular, market participants are asking to tighten the requirements for determining the domesticity of automated workplaces, which now include not only Russian, but also foreign electronics, for example, printers, keyboards and printing equipment, which is why there is almost no demand for such Russian equipment. Market participants consider the measure necessary, but premature.

Kommersant got acquainted with the letter of the general director of Beshtau Electronics LLC (produces monoblocks, monitors, keyboards, etc.) Varktes Galustyan to the deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Vasily Shpak dated June 9. The top manager claims that automated workstations (workstation, include at least a monoblock and a monitor, in some cases printing equipment, peripherals, etc.), which include only monoblocks of Russian origin, and the rest of the equipment is foreign.

In this regard, Mr. Galustyan emphasizes, a threat has arisen for domestic producers of the periphery: “their goods are becoming unclaimed, the production of the periphery is unprofitable, and the investments invested in development are lost.” Beshtau Electronics proposes to introduce requirements for the localization of production of all components of the automated workplace in the Russian Federation. The company is directly interested in this, because it produces monoblocks, monitors, keyboards and other peripherals.

The issue is “discussed in industry chats”, including by members of ANO Computing Technology, adds a top manager of a Russian electronics manufacturer: “A number of companies are ready to invest in the production of AWP components, including peripherals. They want to protect their investments and stimulate demand.” Beshtau co-founder Oleg Osipov, in an interview with Kommersant, confirmed that such changes “stimulate the emergence in Russia of production of peripherals, monitors, printing equipment and uninterruptible power supplies.”

“Conceptually, the ministry supports the proposed approach, but the initiative still needs to be worked out with the industry,” Kommersant was told in the press service of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The ANO did not respond to a request.

AWS, the main demand for which is generated by the public sector, is produced by a number of Russian companies, including Aquarius, Depo, ICL, IRU, etc. In February 2023, F + tech-Marvel also decided to enter this market: the company bought 49% in the manufacturer of automated workstation systems Getmobit (see Kommersant dated February 7).

An interlocutor of Kommersant in one of the electronics manufacturers says that about 1.7 million workstations in the minimum configuration (monitor and monoblock) are sold in the Russian Federation per year, the average price of one is about 50 thousand rubles. Thus, the minimum market size can reach 85 billion rubles.

A Kommersant source in a Russian electronics manufacturer clarifies that now there are “almost no monitors, mice, keyboards and other components of the workstation” in the register of domestic electronics, so he considers the idea premature. “Russian manufacturers need to increase the degree of localization, so in general we support the proposed measures. But it is worth avoiding hasty decisions, moving in stages, taking into account the capabilities of domestic vendors,” agrees Aleksey Melnikov, managing partner of the F + tech group. ICL and Aquarius declined to comment, Depo and Getmobit did not respond to a request.

There is another problem, adds one of Kommersant’s interlocutors: over the past three years, regulation in the field of electronics production has already changed dramatically several times. “First, there were requirements for a certain ad valorem share, then the presence of a Russian processor became a key parameter in determining domesticity, then a point system appeared. In such a situation, it is difficult to plan business development,” he explains, adding that under the current regulatory conditions, the electronics registry “is gradually filled with domestic peripherals.”

Nikita Korolev, Yulia Yurasova