The Ministry of Industry and Commerce will develop a program for the production of processors for smartphones

By 2030, they plan to create 100 similar programs, including for the production of 28nm chips on which smartphones run. The document also shows that by the indicated date it is planned to sell 2.6 thousand units of software, and after 2030 it is intended to use artificial intelligence in CAD.

According to the document, the total costs of research and development work will amount to 54.6 billion rubles until 2030, while the expected income from the implementation of 12 CAD areas should reach 7.2 billion rubles, of which 3.6 billion rubles will be sales of programs for development of microcircuits. One of the developers will be NPO KIS from Rosatom.

The need to create domestic CAD systems is due to the fact that Russian design centers now use software from foreign companies Synopsys and Cadence to design chips, but are already facing denials of support. In early 2023, the NPC Elvis design center won a lawsuit against Synopsys in the amount of 51.3 million rubles for prepaid technical support, which was denied.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce explained that software creation projects will be financed with subsidies under government resolutions No. 2136 and No. 529. The first regulates the allocation of funds for research and development (R&D), and the second regulates the cost compensation of Russian companies in the development of digital platforms and software products for high-tech industries.

The ministry added that, first of all, CAD will support the technical processes available in Russia, while the development will be universal and will be able to work with designs in foreign companies. The “roadmap” also takes into account production localization plans, Rosatom added.

A representative of server manufacturer OpenYard expressed interest in creating domestic CAD systems, noting that if the software is competitive and meets customer needs, it will be in demand in the market. Chip developers also face the problem of blocking foreign software, which has no analogues yet.

The Association of Electronics Developers and Manufacturers (ARPE) points out that developing the system and logical levels requires a team of dozens of specialists and a significant investment of time and money. Physical layer CAD development requires even more resources, as well as access to a factory to verify the final product. At the moment, there are no chip production facilities with 28 nm technology in Russia, but their creation is planned for the future.