Russia is dependent on microchips from abroad. Since the West no longer supplies, Russian companies rely on Chinese goods. However, it is often junk.
Russian companies are getting more and more microchips from China, which are apparently rejects. As the Russian business newspaper “Kommersant” reports, 40 percent of imported Chinese chips are now defective. Before the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, it was still 2 percent.
The background: Because of the Western sanctions imposed on Russia, Chinese chip manufacturers are also holding back on deliveries. They fear being sanctioned otherwise – especially by the United States. Western chipmakers cut ties with Russia after the Ukraine attack. Russia only produces a small part of the required chips itself and is dependent on foreign countries.
Microchips are indispensable for electronics from refrigerators to cars. Russian companies are now trying to cover their needs primarily from China. They don’t buy the components directly from the manufacturers, but according to “Kommersant” from “unofficial” and “unauthorized” suppliers – i.e. through middlemen on the black market.
Quality control is a foreign concept there. Complaints about defective goods should also generally come to nothing. In addition, according to the report, many Russian companies have neither the experience nor the technology to check the functionality of chips before installation. “It’s difficult to judge the quality of the components by their appearance,” the newspaper quoted a manager at smartphone and computer manufacturer F Tech as saying. This increases the likelihood that parts will be installed that are already defective or no longer work properly after a short time.
