According to Russia’s Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Vasily Shpak, the country has received its first batch of 1,000 self-developed 48-core Baikal-S processors.
These processors will be distributed to developers and server manufacturers for product design and testing.
Baikal-S: Development and Challenges #
The Baikal-S processor, designed by Baikal Electronics, was originally planned to be manufactured using TSMC’s 16nm 16FFC process, with production targets of up to 600,000 chips annually by 2025.
However, only a limited number of pre-production samples were built before supply was cut off. Russia did not receive mass-produced chips.
Interestingly, Shpak did not disclose the source of the newly obtained processors, but suggested that more shipments may follow.
The Basis Platform: Expanding Domestic HPC #
In April, Roselectronics (part of the state-owned Rostec Group) announced a new high-performance computing and cloud platform called “Basis.”
- Core powered by up to 128-core processors
- Entirely based on domestic Russian technology
- Target use cases: data processing, storage centers, virtual offices, and graphical application servers
The Basis system includes three general-purpose servers, each supporting:
- Up to 128 cores
- 2TB of memory
- Interconnected with the Angara high-speed network, enabling:
- High-density, ultra-low-latency data exchange
- Throughput up to 75Gbps
- Latency as low as 1ms
Basis can scale to hundreds of server nodes and thousands of virtual workspaces, signaling Russia’s push toward self-reliant cloud and HPC infrastructure.
Still, analysts note Russia lacks advanced semiconductor manufacturing capability, suggesting alternative sourcing channels were used.
Russia’s Semiconductor Struggles #
After the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Western sanctions blocked access to modern semiconductor technology. Russia is restricted to producing 32-bit processors with speeds below 25MHz and performance under 5 GFlops.
In May, Shpak revealed Russia completed its first domestic lithography machine, capable of producing chips at the 350nm node—far behind today’s cutting-edge processes.
Baikal-S Specifications #
The Baikal-S processor is based on the Arm Cortex-A75 architecture:
- Up to 48 cores
- 24MB L3 cache
- 2.0–2.5GHz clock speed
- TDP: 120W
Memory and I/O #
- Six 72-bit memory controllers, supporting up to 768GB DDR4-3200 ECC
- 5 × PCIe 4.0 x16 lanes (splittable into x4 lanes)
- 2 × Gigabit Ethernet controllers
- 1 × USB 2.0 controller
Performance #
- Up to 358 FP64 GFlops
- Comparable to:
- Intel Xeon Gold 6230 (Cascade Lake, 20 cores, 2019)
- AMD EPYC 7351 (1st-gen Zen, 16 cores)
- Inferior to Huawei Kunpeng 920 (48-core, 7nm, TaiShan v110)
In short, Baikal-S competes with older server CPUs, not current-generation processors like Intel Xeon Platinum 8468 or AMD EPYC 9474 (Zen 4).
Still, Baikal-S represents a significant achievement as a homegrown Russian CPU project.
TSMC’s 2nm Future #
Meanwhile, TSMC is preparing to launch its 2nm process in Taiwan by 2025, with Apple expected as the first major customer.
- Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max will likely adopt TSMC’s 2nm chips
- Intel’s upcoming Nova Lake platform is also expected to use TSMC 2nm, though scheduled around 2026
A new 2nm fab in Taiwan is ahead of schedule, with tool installation already underway.
Despite Russia’s Baikal-S progress, the gap between domestic chips and global semiconductor leaders like TSMC, Apple, AMD, and Intel remains vast.
Conclusion #
The Baikal-S 48-core ARM A75 CPU is a milestone for Russia’s semiconductor ambitions. While its performance trails modern processors, its symbolic value is immense—showcasing technological independence under heavy sanctions.
Whether Russia can scale production, secure advanced manufacturing, and compete with global leaders remains uncertain. But Baikal-S highlights an ongoing geopolitical race in semiconductor self-sufficiency.