According to foreign media reports, in December 2024, Angstrom-T, one of Russia's largest chip manufacturers, declared bankruptcy due to its inability to repay $9.9 million (about 72 million yuan) in debt.
In 2007, Angstrom-T broke ground in Zelenograd. Since its inception, Angstrom-T has been tasked with developing advanced microchip technology and bringing it to the international market. To achieve this goal, it received an initial funding of about $1 billion from the government and a credit line of 815 million euros from the state-owned development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB).
In addition, a €150 million cooperation agreement has been reached with German engineering company M+W Germany GmbH, which plans to complete construction and start production facilities by the end of 2008, focusing on manufacturing chips for 130nm to 90nm nodes.
Management transfer and financial distress: from hope to disappointment
Despite a good start and strong financial backing, Angstrom-T gradually exposed management problems over time. Initially led by former communications minister Leonid Reiman, the company went through a series of ownership changes, including a transfer to the Cyprus offshore company Runica Investments, which ultimately failed to escape the fate of financial crisis. By early 2019, burdened by long-accumulated debt, Vnesheconombank had to take action, seizing all of Angstrom-T's assets and initiating the bankruptcy filing process.
In the face of such a dire situation, the Russian government has not given up on saving this strategic company. After 2019, Angstrom-T was handed over to the national defense company Rostec for management, in an attempt to maintain some production capacity in this way and explore the possibility of import substitution. However, limited by the size of the domestic market and the level of technology, coupled with the impact of international sanctions, Angstrom-T has always been difficult to get out of the dilemma.
The impact of international situation on the Russian semiconductor industry
Since 2022, with a series of economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and its Allies such as Canada, Japan, Switzerland and Ukraine, in particular export controls on products and technologies with military applications, Angstrom-T's operating environment has become more hostile. These measures have severely hindered the company's access to necessary production equipment and technological updates, further weakening its competitiveness.
The bankruptcy of Angstrom-T is not just a business event, it reflects the complexity and challenge of Russia's self-development of high-tech in the context of globalization. Although the Russian government has long foreseen and pursued import substitution policies, it has achieved full independence in the field of high-end manufacturing, especially in cutting-edge technology industries such as semiconductors, and since 2022, with a series of economic sanctions imposed against Russia by the United States and its Allies such as Canada, Japan, Switzerland and Ukraine, Especially for export controls on products and technologies involving military use, Angstrom-T's operating environment has become more hostile. These measures have severely hindered the company's access to necessary production equipment and technological updates, further weakening its competitiveness.
The bankruptcy of Angstrom-T is not just a business event, it reflects the complexity and challenge of Russia's self-development of high-tech in the context of globalization. Although the Russian government has long foreseen and promoted import substitution policies, it is not easy to achieve complete independence in the field of high-end manufacturing, especially in cutting-edge technology industries such as semiconductors.
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