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Russia Launches ARM Chip Effort To End X86 Dependence
June 25, 2014 by George Leopold
The Russian government is reportedly preparing to say “nyet” to American-made microprocessors, planning instead to replace Intel and AMD chips with a homegrown CPU based on an alternative architecture offered by ARM Holdings.
According to Russian media reports, Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to replace the U.S.-made processors used in government computers with a domestic processor design codenamed “Baikal.” According to reports, the new 2 GHz CPU based on ARM’s 64-bit kernel Cortex-A57 design will run in both government PCs and servers; it will have eight cores, like other Cortex-A57 designs.
Baikal (also the name of the region around Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest freshwater lake) will be designed by the Russian supercomputer company T-Platforms. The company was blacklisted by the U.S. Commerce Department in March 2013 for alleged involvement in diverting technologies to military programs. T-Platformsannounced in January that its named had been removed the U.S. Export Restrictions Entity List, allowing it to “resume normal trade activities in compliance with all U.S. export control requirements.” Among its services is “compute system design,” according to the company’s Web site.
The first microprocessors based on the ARM designed will be designated “Baikal M” and “M/S,” the Russian news agency reported. No specific timeframe was given for when the processors would be ready and it is not clear who will actually manufacture the chips in the 28 nanometer design process that Baikal Electronics, the division of T-Platforms that is doing the design, has chosen for the first chip.
Beyond reports in state-controlled media, the Russian government has said little or nothing about the project, which was first reported by the Russian business daily Kommersant.
However, senior Russian officials have recently expressed concerns about using U.S.-made technology inside sensitive government systems. Referring to the need for a national card payment system, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev recently told government officials: “For us it is a priority that the future system rely on Russian technology. This will ensure the independence of our system, expand opportunities for customers, and resolve issues related to security and protecting information from unauthorized access.”
The ITAR-TASS news agency reported that state-run companies are expected to pour “dozens of millions of dollars” into the Baikal project. Among the agencies reportedly bankrolling the effort are state military conglomerate Rostec along with technology giant Rosnano. The latter was formed to invest in nanotechnology.
The news agency said Russian state-run firms and government agencies purchase about 700,000 PCs each year worth $500 million. About 300,000 servers are purchased by the government annually at a cost of $800 million. The overall Russian market for microprocessors is estimated to be $3.5 billion.
Moscow’s plan for domestic microprocessor development likely comes in response to revelations of widespread eavesdropping on international communications by the U.S. National Security Agency. One fear is that U.S.-made components might contain “back doors” that would aid the NSA in spying on Russia.
Tensions between Russian and the United States mounted when NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden was given asylum by Moscow. Those tensions have increased with Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
June 23, 2014
Russia to Develop Home-Grown Chips
Tiffany Trader
Russian officials want to replace US microprocessors from Intel and AMD with locally-grown parts. According to recent reports from local news services, the Russian government is planning to create its own line of microprocessors using 64-bit ARM chips for use in governmental computers and servers.
The new microprocessors will be designed by Baikal Electronics, a unit of supercomputing vendor T-Platforms, with funding from state-owned defense giant Rostec and tech-focused state-run venture capital firm Rusnano. The Baikal nomenclature was inspired by the largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Baikal, located in southern Siberia.
The project, worth tens of millions of dollars, is being managed by Russian’s Industry and Trade Ministry. In place of current chips from US companies, the Baikal line of processors will be built using ARM Holdings’ 64-bit Cortex-A57 design, which runs at 2 GHz. The first products, designated as Baikal M and M/S, will be manufactured using 28nm process technology. These 8-core variants are scheduled to debut early next year, with a more powerful 16-core server processor, based on 16-nm process technology, to follow in late 2016.
Russian news agency Kommersant noted that currently Russia does not have the capability to produce 28nm processors, and the project’s price tag, estimated at tens of millions of dollars, does not include the cost of production.
The new chips will power Linux-based personal computers and micro servers and will mainly be used by the defense industry and other government-aligned operations. According to ITAR-TASS, the Russian government purchases about 700,000 personal computers each year worth $500 million as well as 300,000 servers worth $800 million. The total market volume is estimated at 5 million devices worth $3.5 billion.
The fact that the chips are being targeted for government systems indicates the project is motivated by security concerns. However, if the processors are successful, their market share could spread to the Russian public sector, and even potentially outside Russia’s borders.
@rmi5
Russian government dumps Intel and AMD in favor of homemade processors
BY SHARIF SAKR @SHOTSHERIFF 2 DAYS AGO
Russia's policy on Western technology is clear: The country can live without it, especially if key issues like economic sanctions, NSA spying and GPS cooperation aren't resolved to its leader's satisfaction. It looks like this tough stance extends to US-designed computer chips too, as a Russian business newspaper is reporting that state departments and state-run companies will no longer purchase PCs built around Intel or AMD processors. Instead, starting in 2015, the government will order up to one million devices annually based on the "Baikal" processor, which is manufactured by a domestic company called T-Platforms. An interesting twist, however, is that the Baikal processor is actually based on an ARM (Cortex-A57) design, which means the East / West divorce isn't quite as complete as it might sound. It could also mean that many Russian bureaucrats won't get the chance to be a Mac or a PC: they'll have to use some sort of ARM-compatible, presumably Linux-basedoperating system instead.
June 25, 2014 by George Leopold
The Russian government is reportedly preparing to say “nyet” to American-made microprocessors, planning instead to replace Intel and AMD chips with a homegrown CPU based on an alternative architecture offered by ARM Holdings.
According to Russian media reports, Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to replace the U.S.-made processors used in government computers with a domestic processor design codenamed “Baikal.” According to reports, the new 2 GHz CPU based on ARM’s 64-bit kernel Cortex-A57 design will run in both government PCs and servers; it will have eight cores, like other Cortex-A57 designs.
Baikal (also the name of the region around Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest freshwater lake) will be designed by the Russian supercomputer company T-Platforms. The company was blacklisted by the U.S. Commerce Department in March 2013 for alleged involvement in diverting technologies to military programs. T-Platformsannounced in January that its named had been removed the U.S. Export Restrictions Entity List, allowing it to “resume normal trade activities in compliance with all U.S. export control requirements.” Among its services is “compute system design,” according to the company’s Web site.
The first microprocessors based on the ARM designed will be designated “Baikal M” and “M/S,” the Russian news agency reported. No specific timeframe was given for when the processors would be ready and it is not clear who will actually manufacture the chips in the 28 nanometer design process that Baikal Electronics, the division of T-Platforms that is doing the design, has chosen for the first chip.
Beyond reports in state-controlled media, the Russian government has said little or nothing about the project, which was first reported by the Russian business daily Kommersant.
However, senior Russian officials have recently expressed concerns about using U.S.-made technology inside sensitive government systems. Referring to the need for a national card payment system, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev recently told government officials: “For us it is a priority that the future system rely on Russian technology. This will ensure the independence of our system, expand opportunities for customers, and resolve issues related to security and protecting information from unauthorized access.”
The ITAR-TASS news agency reported that state-run companies are expected to pour “dozens of millions of dollars” into the Baikal project. Among the agencies reportedly bankrolling the effort are state military conglomerate Rostec along with technology giant Rosnano. The latter was formed to invest in nanotechnology.
The news agency said Russian state-run firms and government agencies purchase about 700,000 PCs each year worth $500 million. About 300,000 servers are purchased by the government annually at a cost of $800 million. The overall Russian market for microprocessors is estimated to be $3.5 billion.
Moscow’s plan for domestic microprocessor development likely comes in response to revelations of widespread eavesdropping on international communications by the U.S. National Security Agency. One fear is that U.S.-made components might contain “back doors” that would aid the NSA in spying on Russia.
Tensions between Russian and the United States mounted when NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden was given asylum by Moscow. Those tensions have increased with Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
June 23, 2014
Russia to Develop Home-Grown Chips
Tiffany Trader
Russian officials want to replace US microprocessors from Intel and AMD with locally-grown parts. According to recent reports from local news services, the Russian government is planning to create its own line of microprocessors using 64-bit ARM chips for use in governmental computers and servers.
The new microprocessors will be designed by Baikal Electronics, a unit of supercomputing vendor T-Platforms, with funding from state-owned defense giant Rostec and tech-focused state-run venture capital firm Rusnano. The Baikal nomenclature was inspired by the largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Baikal, located in southern Siberia.
The project, worth tens of millions of dollars, is being managed by Russian’s Industry and Trade Ministry. In place of current chips from US companies, the Baikal line of processors will be built using ARM Holdings’ 64-bit Cortex-A57 design, which runs at 2 GHz. The first products, designated as Baikal M and M/S, will be manufactured using 28nm process technology. These 8-core variants are scheduled to debut early next year, with a more powerful 16-core server processor, based on 16-nm process technology, to follow in late 2016.
Russian news agency Kommersant noted that currently Russia does not have the capability to produce 28nm processors, and the project’s price tag, estimated at tens of millions of dollars, does not include the cost of production.
The new chips will power Linux-based personal computers and micro servers and will mainly be used by the defense industry and other government-aligned operations. According to ITAR-TASS, the Russian government purchases about 700,000 personal computers each year worth $500 million as well as 300,000 servers worth $800 million. The total market volume is estimated at 5 million devices worth $3.5 billion.
The fact that the chips are being targeted for government systems indicates the project is motivated by security concerns. However, if the processors are successful, their market share could spread to the Russian public sector, and even potentially outside Russia’s borders.
@rmi5
Russian government dumps Intel and AMD in favor of homemade processors
BY SHARIF SAKR @SHOTSHERIFF 2 DAYS AGO
Russia's policy on Western technology is clear: The country can live without it, especially if key issues like economic sanctions, NSA spying and GPS cooperation aren't resolved to its leader's satisfaction. It looks like this tough stance extends to US-designed computer chips too, as a Russian business newspaper is reporting that state departments and state-run companies will no longer purchase PCs built around Intel or AMD processors. Instead, starting in 2015, the government will order up to one million devices annually based on the "Baikal" processor, which is manufactured by a domestic company called T-Platforms. An interesting twist, however, is that the Baikal processor is actually based on an ARM (Cortex-A57) design, which means the East / West divorce isn't quite as complete as it might sound. It could also mean that many Russian bureaucrats won't get the chance to be a Mac or a PC: they'll have to use some sort of ARM-compatible, presumably Linux-basedoperating system instead.
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