The Ministry of Industry and Trade signed ₽1.2-billion the contract for cultivation of crystals for chips

Project Chronicle

2021

Contract with Lassard

On November 11, 2021, the winner of the tender of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for the cultivation of crystals for electronic equipment became known. A contract worth 1.2 billion rubles was concluded with the Lassard company of the co-owner of the Varton and Baikal Electronics group Denis Frolov.

According to Kommersant, the project was called Listopad. It is designed to reduce the dependence of Russian electronics manufacturers on foreign suppliers and allow the production of domestic base stations for 5G networks.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade signed ₽1.2-billion the contract for cultivation of crystals for chips

We are talking about conducting development work to develop a multi-needle plant for growing single crystals GaAs and Ge with a diameter of 100 and 150 mm (semiconductors necessary for many types of equipment) using the VGF method.

Rostec noted that the domestic plant for growing single crystals is needed for the import substitution of equipment for the production of an electronic component base (ECB). According to Andrei Chendarov, deputy general director of the United Instrument-Making Corporation (part of Rostec Group of Companies), the Lassard technological base allows you to create a "backdrop for ECB manufacturers to expand the serial production of single crystals."

Lassard Executive Director Oleg Nefedov said that the company will develop installations for specialized Russian enterprises planning to produce equipment and semiconductor materials.

Lassard LLC was established in 2015 in Kaluga with an authorized capital of 3 million rubles. Denis Frolov owns 65% of the company, 7.5% of Ilya Sivtsev, 27.5% of Igor Korneenkov.

The newspaper writes that Denis Frolov has become a prominent figure in the Russian electronics market in the past two years. In 2020, he served as general director of NM-Tech LLC, which bought the property of the bankrupt Angstrom-T in 2021. In June 2021, Frolov received control at Baikal Electronics^[1]

Announcement of the tender by the Ministry of Industry and Trade

In October 2021, it became known about the tender announced by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, from which the department wants to begin growing crystals for electronic equipment. 1.2 billion rubles are allocated for work over four years.

As part of the new state order, the contractor will need to carry out development work (OCD) to develop documentation and manufacture a prototype plant for growing single crystals of gallium and germanium arsenide (GaAs and Ge) with a diameter of 100 and 150 mm. The chips are also intended for the production of HF electronic engineers, laser equipment and optoelectronics, reports "."Kommersant

Ministry of Industry and Trade engaged in the "cultivation" of chips for 1.2 billion rubles

According to experts interviewed by the publication, by October 2021 in Russia there is no production of single crystals, from which plates for microcircuits are made. A proprietary plant for growing two types of single crystals will reduce dependence on imports from the United States and Europe. However, point solutions may not be enough to solve the problem due to personnel hunger in the industry.

Earlier, the Russian company for the production of chips "NM-Tech," owned by the state corporation ВЭБ.РФ, hired dozens of specialists from the Taiwanese company United Microelectronics Corporation, the world's third manufacturer of microelectronics. They were offered a competitive salary and moving to Russia with their families.

Roselectronik told the newspaper that GaAs is one of the most massive. The implementation of the ROC will allow Russian manufacturers of the electronic component base to expand serial production of single crystals, as well as to prepare specialists capable of realizing the full potential of the technology, the holding believes.

According to Kommersant sources in the electronic industry, the creation of the plant is an important step, but it is not enough to solve the problem.^[2]

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