Chip sanctions challenge Russia's tech ambitions
Loss of access to top-of-the-line chips from Asia hurts efforts to develop advanced weapons, artificial intelligence and robotics
Ibrahim Al-TarikMay 9, 2025
An international technology blockade threatens to deprive Russia of advanced semiconductors needed to power modern weapons and cutting-edge technologies like 5G, artificial intelligence and robotics, experts say.
In late February, the US banned the sale of high-tech products, including semiconductors and telecommunications systems used by the defense, aerospace and maritime industries, to Russia and its ally Belarus, days after Russia invaded Ukraine was. The ban also extended to certain foreign products made with US equipment, software or blueprints.
South Korea and Taiwan, leaders in high-end chips, and Japan, which is strong in chip-making materials and tools, have also banned the export of items that the US has placed on its export control list. This denies Russia access to many high-value chips, as well as materials and components needed to restore local production.
For Russia, the impact of the coordinated sanctions will be significant, according to Tom Rafferty, regional director for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "The biggest export bans will be related to semiconductors, and especially high-end semiconductors, for which Korea and Taiwan have an almost monopoly on production. So there will be no supply anywhere for Russia to lean on.
Despite Russia's sanctions restricting access to chip supplies appear, the actual impact could not be fully determined. The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Economic Development did not respond to requests for comment.
Russia continues to rely heavily on foreign technology for chip development and has limited resources own chip production capacities. According to the United Nations Comtrade database, in 2020 Russia imported about $440 million worth of semiconductor devices, including components such as diodes and transistors, as well as about $1 worth of electronic integrated circuits, or "chips", $25 billion made up of various components.
Although the bulk of these imports come from Asian countries that don't impose sanctions, Russia would be in the dark when it came to high-quality chips or domestic chips. Taiwan produces most of the world's most advanced semiconductors, with the rest made in South Korea, according to data from the Washington, DC-based trade group Semiconductor Industry Association. South Korea is also a leader in memory chips, while Japan is a stronghold for semiconductor materials and manufacturing tools, both of which are critical to chip manufacturing.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract chip manufacturer, said it is committed to complying with the new export control rules. South Korean company Samsung Electronics, a leading memory chip maker and electronics producer, said this month it had suspended shipments of all its products to Russia due to geopolitical developments and was monitoring the situation to determine its next steps.
Russia's chip manufacturing technology lags behind that of industry leader TSMC by more than 15 years, according to Western semiconductor industry executives who have studied the state of Russia's industry. The country's leading chipmaker, the Mikron Group, says it is the only domestic company capable of mass-producing semiconductors with 65-nanometer circuits - a technology introduced to the industry for mass production around 2006 became. Mikron did not respond to a request for comment.
Some of the leading chips designed in Russia are manufactured by TSMC. Russia could lose access to some of those chips, although it's unclear whether those chips will be affected by the sanctions.
The latest Baikal microprocessors, used in many Russian-made computers and servers, are made by TSMC, according to Baikal Electronics JSC, a Russian company that develops these chips. Certain latest Elbrus microprocessors, developed by the Moscow Center for SPARC Technologies, were supposed to be manufactured by TSMC, according to documents from the Russian company.
TSMC declined to comment beyond its statement on the sanctions. Baikal and MCST did not respond to requests for comment.
