Russian processors were under sanctions: the production of “Baikal” may stop

According to Kommersant, the UK has expanded sanctions against Russia to include MCST and Baikal Electronics, which are developing Elbrus and Baikal processors.

The new sanctions involve not only freezing foreign assets, but also restricting the use of technologies, including the architecture for processors from the British company ARM, which could stop the release of new processors.

In particular, ARM technology is used in Baikal processors. According to the source, Baikal Electronics owns design and manufacturing licenses for all processors up to Baikal S (16 nm). However, not the new processors Baikal M2, Baikal L, Baikal S2, which are under development, the company has only design licenses.

Russian processors were under sanctions: the production of

Without production licenses, no major foreign chip manufacturer will work with Baikal Electronics (such as UMC, Global Foundries and TSMC). Recall that Baikal processors are manufactured by Taiwanese TSMC, which also produces single-chip systems for Apple and Samsung.

In such a situation, according to the interlocutor of Kommersant, one can either look for a factory that will violate ARM’s patent law, or transfer their developments to open processor architectures, such as RISK V, MIPS, VLIW. But this will take two or three years and about a billion rubles.

Source: ixbt

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