russia Has Officially Admitted the Failure of Its “Electronic Sovereignty” Initiative

The government of the rf has officially acknowledged what was already obvious: the large-scale plan to replace foreign electronics has failed. The share of russian-made products in government projects by 2030 has been reduced from the promised 80% to a paltry 58.7%. The initiative to lower the target came from the ministry of industry and trade of the rf – even the government understands the industry’s inability to meet the set goals.

The reason is simple for putin’s economy: they’ve run out of money. The electronic engineering development program was short of $422.7 million in funding for 2026–2028, while spending on the relevant state program plummeted fivefold: from $338.4 million in 2024 to a meager $62.6 million in 2026. Some projects to develop microelectronics equipment were simply canceled, and the production deadlines for processors and modems were pushed back all the way to 2032 – that is, to an indefinite future.

The industry’s technological backwardness is evident. The “irtysh” processors, which moscow touted as its own development for critical infrastructure, turned out to be virtually copies of the Chinese “Loongson” processors. At the same time, the “kurchatov institute” national research center, has not completed the development of microchips intended to replace products from Intel, Integrated Device Technology, Marvell Technology, and Broadcom within the specified timeframe. russian experts themselves admit that in the country simply there is no full production cycle for modern electronics – neither the materials, nor the equipment, nor the technologies. Government contractors are resorting to Chinese components, passing them off as “hybrid solutions”.

According to estimates by russian experts themselves, localization of more than 60% is impossible without domestic production of microchips using 28 nm and smaller processes. Under sanctions and without access to Western technologies, this seems like a pipe dream. Abandoning the 80% target is a capitulation to reality: the technological sovereignty that the kremlin loves to boast about remains an empty propaganda fantasy.