14 DAY TRIAL // Rusian provider of telecommunications and consumer electronics equipment, JSC Sitronics, has started production of chips using the 0.18-micron node. The chips to power smart cards are produced in Zelenograd, Russia.
Mikron, the Sitronics subsidiary, bought the current technology from the French company STMicroelectronics for $200 million. According to the company's roadmap, Micron was supposed to start producing chips in December this year.
The plant will produce chips for smart cards, and more than 40 suppliers in 10 countries are taking active part in the project. The next step on the company's roadmap is to start production of chips using the 0.13-micron node with the technology purchased from chip manufacturer AMD. In 2009, Mikron will start producing 90-nm integrated circuitry.
Sitronics is deply involved in the creation of a new production base, called the "Moscow Technological Cluster". The base is comprised of scientific and technology labs, technical schools and service centers. Half the company employees are involved in research and development. Sergey Aslanyan, president and chief executive officer of Sitronics said: "Mikron is a good example of the joint cooperation of private business and the government in bringing domestically developed microelectronic technologies to the market."
The company is currently delivering chips to more than 3500 customers and export their products in more than 60 countries. Sitronics has 10,000 employees and generated revenues of over $1 billion in the nine months ending September 30, this year, while the total assets owned were estimated at a rough value of $1.78 billion. JSC Sitronics is owned by Sistema, the largest diversified holding company in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
"We have trained 120 engineers at our partners' companies, who are now involved in developing modern technologies in the country", said Gennady Krasnikov, general director of JSC Mikron and head of Sitronics Microelectronic Solutions.