HAVERHILL, MA - Russian semiconductor manufacturers sold about $2 billion dollars worth of chips last year, about one-third the peak of the former USSR, according to a report from Japan.

The Semiconductor Industry News, a Japanese publication which recently began tracking the Russian IC market, found that most manufacturers have been using 4 or 6" wafers for volume production. Their technology is likely "more than 10 years behind leading global manufacturers," according to analyst Dominique Numakura, publisher of the EPTE newsletter and a columnist for PCD&M magazine.

Russia has historically been quiet about the size and capabilities of its semiconductor industry, Numakura wrote in the latest issue of EPTE.

Nevertheless, there are signs of "significant progress," the report said. Russian fabs have been developing unique products for export to Asia.

Once the beneficiary of heavy investment as the USSR built its military machine, the nation's electronics industry experienced upheaval in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse. The industry mostly disappeared during the 1990s, the report said, and many engineers lost their jobs. The past few years have brought a rebound, the report said, and now 10 semiconductor plants are in operation, employing three to four thousand engineers.

Russia's technical schools are considered competitive and are producing many new engineers, the report said. Several major North American and Korean electronics companies have been recruiting Russian engineers. With local labor costs competitive with Korea and Taiwan, the Russian electronics industry will be a major player in the next five years, the report concluded.

• Prev
• Next