Russia isn’t on the best of terms with most major Western powers and as economic sanctions loom overhead the country has been trying to send a strong message back. Just last month the country’s deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin announced that Russia will reject a U.S. request to use the International Space Station after 2020, with Kremlin deciding to take this step as a response to sanctions imposed due to the Ukraine crisis. A new report suggests that the Russian government may now move away from devices running on chips made by Intel and AMD.
The report claims that it is the Russian government’s aim to use chips developed in the country for its devices. Apparently the country’s Industry and Trade Ministry made an announced that Intel and AMD chips will be replaced by the homegrown Baikal microprocessor.
The Baikal chip will be developed by a unit of T-Platforms, a company that produces supercomputers. This switch is expected to take place by next year. Russian state defence giant Rostec and state run tech giant Rosnano are reportedly going to provide support for the project.
Computers powered by Baikal chips will then be installed in state-run companies as well as government bodies. Russia reportedly opted to make this move as it wasn’t particularly happy with leaked claims about the NSA planting bugs in technical hardware being exported out of the country. So to keep U.S. spies out may very have played a major role in aiding the Russians to make their mind.