The Fab Line

Electronic News, April 19, 1999

(SEMI) will next month again host the annual CIS Executive Mission and Exhibit. Scheduled for May 17-23, the exhibit will be held in Zelenograd, the capital of Russia's microelectronics industry.SEMI stated, "The economic and political turbulence in Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union have done little to stem the continued development of a domestic semiconductor industry.

On the contrary, the Russian semiconductor industry is positioned to benefit from changes brought about during the recent economic crisis. New financing programs, including the creation of the $1.5 billion Russian Bank for Development (RBD), and the reduction of income taxes and VAT are providing incentives for increased industrial investment and development." "To a certain extent, the continued growth of high-technology industry is due to much stronger support from the new government, especially towards the semiconductor industry," said Alla Famitskaya, SEMI's regional director for the CIS. "The situation for the industry has already changed for the better and, considering all those changes, I believe that this is the optimal time for the SEMI program and for semiconductor equipment and device manufacturers to become acquainted with the new business environment, the CIS market and the current status of the local semiconductor industry." According to Russian government statistics, IC exports more than doubled between 1993 and 1997 from $23 million to $48 million. In 1998, despite the nation's financial crisis, semiconductor industry sales doubled again, to more than $100 million. Russian chipmaker Angstrem saw sales grow 40 percent in 1998, to $28 million and Mikron claims to have increased sales almost 60 percent. The Belorussian company, Integral, also posted an almost 50 percent increase in sales in 1998.