Exovera’s report, Sanctioned Russian Chipmaker Baikal Electronics May Be Resurrecting with Chinese Help, examines the potential re-emergence of Baikal Electronics through covert support from Chinese semiconductor firms, despite heavy U.S. and allied sanctions. The report tracks the company’s collapse following Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC) cutoff in early 2022, which halted Baikal’s chip production. Long considered a flagship of Russia’s domestic chip ambitions, Baikal had been reliant on TSMC to fabricate its designs—until the Ukraine war triggered sweeping technology sanctions.
This report builds on recent Russian media coverage and job postings suggesting that Baikal Electronics may have resumed limited chip production, potentially in partnership with China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC). It investigates signs of resumed Baikal-S processor shipments, new bureaucratic filings, and job descriptions referencing international manufacturing and export control expertise. Exovera’s analysis explores how such collaboration, if confirmed, could circumvent sanctions regimes and reintroduce Dutch-made ASML equipment into the Russian military supply chain through Chinese intermediaries.
