RBC Daily: “Vladimir Putin to Decide the Fate of the Microchip”

On September 20, Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting on measures to support the Russian microelectronics market. Earlier, the prime minister received requests to support this industry from RusNano head Anatoly Chubais and the majority shareholder of the Sistema financial corporation, Vladimir Yevtushenkov. The meeting will focus on a set of measures to facilitate the development of the microelectronics market, establishing a domestic market for microelectronic components and creating attractive conditions for investment. The domestic demand on Russian-made components is currently undermined by highly developed import. The meeting’s minutes, to which RBC Daily was granted access, read that “the formation of a sustainable domestic microelectronics market is significantly hindered by the lack of market regulation and the preponderance of imported products.” At the meeting, RusNano and Sistema will suggest “improving the laws to protect the domestic market as well as creating tax and economic incentives for the development and production of microelectronics components.” As for the domestic demand, the measures include building up the demand for already available products, for example, by facilitating the transition to biometric passports as well as by promoting RFID tags for consumer goods and medicines.