The production of motherboards based on processors of previous generations is growing in the Russian Federation

Russian computer hardware manufacturers plan to increase motherboard production volumes in 2024 due to the growing number of orders. But in the absence of the necessary technical documentation from leading Western processor developers, they are forced to create solutions for devices of previous generations. Some companies negotiate with Chinese organizations, but this increases costs and development time, experts say.

Russian electronics manufacturer GS Group will launch an additional line for the production of motherboards in February, the company told Kommersant. The company will invest 200 million rubles in the purchase of additional equipment, testing areas and warehouses, which will allow doubling capacity to 1 million boards per year, GS Group clarified: the decision was made due to the fact that in 2023 the number of orders increased by 28%, up to 500 thousand fees. Contracts for production of twice the volume in 2024 have already been concluded, the company says.

“If in 2022 these were mainly boards for laptops, then in 2023 they also produced complex server boards and devices for telecommunications equipment,” said Fedor Boyarkov, vice president for production development at GS Group. Kommersant’s interlocutor on the electronics market clarified that domestic companies develop products mainly based on Intel and AMD solutions.

Another electronics manufacturer, Fplus, is also talking about expanding capacity, including the production of motherboards. Fplus began producing boards in 2023, some of them are included in the radio electronics register of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. According to the company’s executive director Mikhail Volkov, due to growing demand in 2024, it is planned to increase production “from several tens of thousands to several hundred thousand.”

Executive Director of the Association of Electronics Developers and Manufacturers (ARPE), Ivan Pokrovsky, confirms the overall growth in motherboard production in the Russian Federation, but finds it difficult to assess absolute figures. According to him, the surge in demand is associated “with government regulation and customers’ plans for import substitution.” In 2023, due to import substitution in all segments of electronics, the queue for contract manufacturing in the Russian Federation stretched for several months, and prices increased by 20% (see “Kommersant” dated May 26, 2023).

At the same time, emphasizes the director of the Promobit company (manufacturer of servers and storage systems Bitblaze) Maxim Koposov, in the Russian Federation there are still difficulties with the production and design of electronics on modern processors, “released since the beginning of sanctions pressure,” since there is no official documentation for them, which allows you to integrate the chip on the board.

Global processor manufacturers Intel and AMD left Russia after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, stopping supplies, support and product updates. After that, both vendors introduced several new generation processors. Thus, Intel presented the Intel Core i9-13900KS processor with a frequency of 5.8 GHz, AMD presented the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, which, according to the developer, is 52% better in performance than the previous generation. Kommersant’s interlocutor on the microelectronics market clarifies that the supply of processors of previous generations to the Russian Federation through parallel imports continues.

Mr. Koposov added that some Russian companies are forced to enter into partnerships with Chinese electronics developers in order to gain access to modern board designs developed with the support of chip manufacturers: “This reduces the degree of localization of development in Russia, which is fraught with technological lag.” Mr. Pokrovsky is also aware of the problem; according to him, the lack of necessary processor documentation delays the development of Russian technology and also requires additional investments.

Timofey Kornev