Russia is in the process of building its first semiconductor fabrication facility, which will be capable of producing chips using 55–40 nanometer process technology. The long-term goal is to achieve 28 nm production. Volga, the most ambitious semiconductor manufacturing initiative in the country since the Soviet Union’s dissolution, will be built in the Innopolis Special Economic Zone near Kazan. The facility will be the most sophisticated commercial semiconductor production facility in Russia if it is completed according to the established schedule.
The project comes at a time when Russia’s semiconductor industry faces significant technological constraints. Consequently, the initiative is timely. Domestic chip manufacturers continue to rely largely on production lines based on equipment acquired from Western suppliers during the 2000s and early 2010s. These facilities have enabled production at around the 90 nm node. However, sanctions implemented since 2022 have effectively terminated access to new equipment from the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. It has been necessary for Russia to reevaluate its semiconductor manufacturing capabilities in order to modernize them.
A Five-Year Development Plan
The Volga project will be executed in a series of phases over a period of approximately five years. The strategy is to first establish a commercially viable 55–40 nm production line before introducing 28 nm manufacturing on essentially the same production infrastructure, rather than attempting to move directly to an advanced manufacturing node.
The production structures and supporting infrastructure are expected to be built during the first year. The installation of fabrication equipment, process qualification, and pilot production will be the primary objectives of the second year. The third year is scheduled for the commercial production of processors that use 55–40 nm technology. It is expected that a pilot 28 nm line will be commissioned in the fourth year, and serial production at that node is to be pursued in the fifth year.
Both process technologies will share a common manufacturing line, which is one of the central design principles. The capital investment necessary for 55–40 nm production can be repurposed for 28 nm manufacturing, thereby reducing the necessity of building entirely new cleanroom facilities, as indicated in the project documentation to be approximately 80%. This method substantially reduces construction expenses while simultaneously facilitating the progressive transition to a more sophisticated manufacturing node.
Why 55–40 nm Still Matters
As per the project’s planning documents, a major proportion of Russia’s domestic demand for electronic components would be met by 55–40 nm technology. Microcontrollers, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), memory technologies such as MRAM and RRAM, analog integrated circuits, mixed-signal chips, sensors, interface controllers, and power-management devices comprise the anticipated production portfolio.
These components are expected to provide assistance to clients in the defense sector, telecommunications, industrial automation, transportation, energy infrastructure, and other sectors where reliability is frequently more critical than the utilization of the most recent semiconductor node.
Industrial Partners and Location
The Innopolis Special Economic Zone, a technology-focused industrial area near Kazan, will house the facility, which will occupy an estimated 41 hectares. This area was created to attract high-tech manufacturing and research projects. The proposed product portfolio has been coordinated with Russian semiconductor design centers, and external engineering infrastructure has been authorized. The site has already been allocated.
The initiative will involve various well-established Russian organizations.
AO Mikron has been designated as the technological collaborator and will contribute its experience as the largest semiconductor manufacturer in Russia. The engineering and project organization responsible for technical implementation will be NIIME. The Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology (MIET), Kazan National Research Technical University (KAI), and Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics (TUSUR) will provide assistance with workforce development.
Engineers and technicians with specialized expertise in semiconductor physics, lithography, process engineering, and equipment maintenance are required for advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Therefore, the project prioritizes the development of a competent workforce.
The Challenge of Equipment
Building a semiconductor fabrication plant is not just a matter of building cleanrooms. The most significant technical challenge is the acquisition of the hundreds of specialized manufacturing instruments required to manufacture integrated circuits.
Oxidation, diffusion, ion implantation, chemical vapor deposition, plasma etching, wafer cleaning, metrology, defect inspection, and lithography are all dependent on sophisticated equipment in the production of modern semiconductors. The United States, Europe, and Japan have been the world’s top suppliers of this apparatus for decades.
Russian semiconductor manufacturers are no longer able to access advanced equipment from those suppliers as a result of export controls that were implemented after 2022.
Russia is presently in the process of developing its own semiconductor manufacturing equipment; however, these projects are still in the early stages. Domestic production tools compatible with 130 nm and 90 nm process technologies are currently under development. Equipment capable of sustaining commercial manufacturing below 90 nm is not expected to be available until the early 2030s.
Therefore, Russia must seek an alternative source of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
China Emerges as the Practical Supplier
China is the sole feasible source of semiconductor production equipment suited for the Volga project in the current geopolitical environment.
The semiconductor equipment industry in China has experienced significant growth in the past decade as a result of government-sponsored industrial initiatives that were designed to decrease the country’s reliance on imported manufacturing tools. By 2025, domestic Chinese manufacturers had supplied approximately 35% of the semiconductor production equipment used within China, surpassing previous national objectives. Locally manufactured equipment comprises over 40% of installations in numerous categories, including thin-film deposition systems and etching.
Equipment that is compatible with 28 nm semiconductor manufacturing is already produced by many Chinese manufacturers.
NAURA Technology Group has emerged as one of the most prominent suppliers of semiconductor fabrication equipment in China. SMIC, China’s largest contract chip manufacturer, extensively employs its oxidation and diffusion systems, which comprise a substantial portion of the production apparatus that facilitates 28 nm manufacturing.
AMEC (Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment) specializes in plasma etching systems used throughout semiconductor fabrication. The company’s equipment has been widely deployed in China, and its most recent platforms are currently undergoing validation for increasingly sophisticated manufacturing nodes.
PECVD systems are produced by Piotech for the purpose of thin-film deposition during semiconductor fabrication. Its equipment has consistently expanded its presence in the NAND flash memory industry of China, with a particular emphasis on YMTC.
ACM Research concentrates on wafer cleansing systems that eliminate microscopic contaminants during semiconductor processing. It manufactures circuits at the 28 nm node using equipment that operates on multiple high-volume 12-inch wafer production lines.
The Lithography Question
Lithography continues to be the most challenging component of semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (SMEE) is a Chinese company that is presently in the process of developing immersion DUV lithography technology with the objective of supporting commercial production at the 90 nm node. This technology is intended for 28 nm manufacturing. The semiconductor equipment industry in China has achieved a major milestone by begining the evaluation of 28 nm DUV lithography systems that are domestically produced by semiconductor manufacturers.
While Chinese lithography technology has not yet reached the level of competition with the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) systems used by the most prominent global manufacturers for cutting-edge process nodes, it has made major strides to accommodate mature nodes, such as 28 nm, through the use of deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography.
28 nm remains one of the most commercially significant mature nodes worldwide, supporting a diverse range of automotive, industrial, and embedded applications. Consequently, this level of capability is of particular importance.
Project Financing
The project’s estimates indicate that the 28 nanometer node could necessitate investments of approximately 750 billion rubles to develop production capabilities.
Typically, these projects entail extended construction periods, substantial equipment expenditures, and protracted qualification processes prior to the commencement of commercial production. These characteristics render semiconductor manufacturing less appealing to private investors who are interested in obtaining swift financial returns.
To implement the project, AO Volga was established as a dedicated operating company responsible for construction and future management of the fabrication plant. While funding arrangements and project implementation progress, preparatory work has persisted.
Rebuilding the Semiconductor Industry in Russia
The Volga initiative is a component of a more comprehensive national strategy to revitalize the semiconductor manufacturing sector in Russia.
Investment in advanced semiconductor manufacture experienced a significant decline subsequent to the Soviet Union’s dissolution.
The Russian industrial policy has been reoriented toward the reconstruction of the entire semiconductor ecosystem since 2022. In addition to semiconductor production, government-supported initiatives now prioritize the development of workforces, process technologies, electronic materials, domestic manufacturing equipment, and design software.
At present, Russian developers are in the process of developing domestic lithography systems that will be capable of supporting 90 nm manufacturing later in the decade. Although these initial systems will not immediately replace imported equipment, they are the first stage in the reconstruction of capabilities that have seen limited investment for more than three decades.
A Practical Methodology for Modernization
The Volga semiconductor plant is not designed to compete directly with the most sophisticated chip fabrication facilities in the world, which produce processors at a scale of 3 nm or lower. Rather, it addresses a practical necessity for the consistent domestic production of mature semiconductor technologies that continue to dominate numerous industrial applications.
The project would equip Russia with the domestic manufacturing capabilities necessary for the production of microcontrollers, industrial processors, communication chips, defense electronics, and a variety of integrated circuits that are essential in various sectors of the economy if it is effectively completed.
Chinese equipment manufacturers appear to be the sole viable option for establishing 55–40 nm and ultimately 28 nm production within the intended timeframe, given the current export restrictions. Simultaneously, Russia is continuing to invest in the long-term development of its own semiconductor manufacturing equipment in order to decrease its reliance on foreign technology for future generations of fabrication.
The Volga project is an example of an incremental strategy, as it does not wait for the availability of a completely domestic equipment ecosystem. It integrates parallel domestic research and development endeavors with near-term access to commercially available Chinese semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The facility will become Russia’s first commercial semiconductor fabrication plant, capable of producing circuits at 55–40 nm before transitioning to serial 28 nm manufacturing if the planned schedule is met. This will represent a significant advancement in the modernization of the country’s semiconductor industry.