What is known about the launch of microcircuit production in Ukraine?

According to Oleksandr Grudanov, a member of the working group at the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the chips will not be among the newest, but this will allow meeting the needs of the defense, agricultural, and automotive sectors.

For example, Intel and TSMC are working on technologies for developing 1.8 nanometer and 4 nanometer chips.

Initial production plans in Ukraine are up to 1,000 silicon wafers, each of which can accommodate several hundred chips, per month.

How can Ukraine start producing microcircuits?

The Ministry of Digital Affairs is considering 2 options for ensuring the production of such plates.

The first option involves licensing the finished technology on a turnkey basis. It is also possible to involve a private partner in the production process.

For turnkey chip production, the Ministry of Digital Affairs may involve a licensor company that will be responsible for controlling the construction of the plant, configuring the equipment, and launching the pilot line.

In this case, the state will own a controlling stake in the manufacturing enterprise, giving priority to the needs of the military-industrial complex and advanced research projects.

The second option involves attracting a private partner through a tender. In this case, the state would have a minority stake and would be able to distribute quotas for production orders within its own needs.

The list of potential partners includes the Austrian AMS, the French CMP, the German IHP and X-FAB, the French-Italian STMicro, the parent company of the Chinese chip manufacturer SMIC — LFoundry, and the Israeli TowerSemiconductors, the publication emphasizes in the material.

According to Grudanov, the cost of building a chip production enterprise in Ukraine under the licensing model will amount to up to $1 billion.

Technology licensing in this case is paid separately.

At the same time, Yevgeny Utkin, founder of the technology company "Kvazar-Micro" and developer of solutions in the field of microcircuit design automation Polyteda Cloud, estimates the costs of building a factory for chip production at almost $5 billion.