Belarus will bring integrated circuits and semiconductors worth 1.5 billion rubles to Russia – a contract has been signed with the Belarusian holding "Integral". Delivery dates are not disclosed. Earlier, Belarus began importing Belarusian Horizon laptops to Russia, which in fact turned out to be Chinese.
The Belarusian holding "Integral" announced in its Telegram channel the signing of a contract for the supply of large batches of electronic components to Russia. The amount of the transaction is 1.5 billion rubles, but the details about its subject, that is, what exactly Integral will export to Russia, are kept secret. Along the way, the delivery dates of the first batch are not disclosed.
The contract was signed within the framework of the Innoprom exhibition in Yekaterinburg. As noted by the General Director of Integral OJSC (the management company of Integral Holding) Andrey Buinevich, this step is part of the implementation of the roadmap for the development of microelectronics production and development in the Union State. "We are not lagging behind, we occupy our niche and keep up with foreign companies," Buinevich said.
Integral Holding was founded in 1961. The holding has its main office in Minsk and is engaged in the production of integrated circuits. It also produces LCD indicators and semiconductor devices (diodes, thyristors and transistors of various types), information boards, on-board information systems for transport, medical devices and much more. In the past, he also produced watches under the brand "Electronics".
At present, Integral OJSC is under sanctions. Numerous restrictions against the Belarusian tech giant were introduced by the US authorities at the end of February 2022, and then the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Japan followed their example.
Currently, the holding includes several companies. Among them are manufacturers of microelectronics (STC "Belmikrosystems", UP "Plant of semiconductor devices", etc.) and electronics (RUE "SKB Nemiga", RUE "Plant Electronics", etc.).
The signing by Russia of a contract with the Belarusian Integral for 1.5 billion rubles took place less than two months after the adoption of the "Concept of Technological Development" of Russia until 2030. The order on its adoption was published on the website of the Russian Government on May 25, 2023 and dated May 20, 2023.
This concept implies that after a little more than six years, Russia should have an up-to-date scientific, technological and personnel base of critical and end-to-end technologies. Also, the country's economy "should ensure the production of high–tech products - chips and other microelectronics, high-precision machine tools and robotics, aerospace equipment, drones, medicines and medical equipment, telecommunications equipment and software. At the same time, the share of such domestic goods in the total volume of consumption should be at least 75%," the text of the concept says.
The document states that in order to achieve this global goal, more local plans must first be implemented. For example, in order to ensure Russia's technological sovereignty, it is necessary to achieve an increase in domestic research and development costs by at least 45%. For the transition to innovation–oriented economic growth, the level of innovation activity in industry and other areas should increase 2.3 times, and the costs for these purposes - 1.5 times. Also, by 2030, the volume of innovative goods, works and services should increase by 1.9 times, and the number of patent applications by 2.4 times.
Belarus has experience in importing "national" high-tech products. In the early autumn of 2022, the premiere of Horizon laptops produced by the Belarusian factory of the same name took place in this country, and by the end of 2022, when they appeared in Belarusian stores, it became known that they would also be sold in Russia.
The release of Horizons on the Russian market took place in the first days of February 2023, but the laptops turned out to be not Belarusian at all. Horizons are assembled on American Intel Core processors, run on the American Microsoft Windows OS and are generally Chinese, since these are just rebranded mobile PCs from Itel. As a result, only the name is from Belarus in them. Moreover, at the beginning of July 2023, Horizons and Itel laptops, from which they were copied, were side by side in Russian retail.
China also has a rich tradition of relabeling microcircuits and other ECB. Whether this will affect modern "Belarusian microchips", the future will show.
