Reuters
Maria Kolomychenko
10/17/2018
[excerpt]
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-sanctions-technology-exclu/exclusive-russian-high-tech-project-flounders-after-us-sanctions-idUSKCN1MR1LFMOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. sanctions targeting Russia’s nascent high tech industry have caused a Russian microchip company significant financial woes and delayed the launch of an initiative meant to produce substitutes for Western products, the firm’s owner said.
President Vladimir Putin has stressed the need to develop Russia’s domestic tech industry to make it less dependent on Western equipment. But Moscow’s efforts to manufacture Russian microchips and other high tech products have been thwarted by U.S. sanctions against a string of Russian tech companies.
Angstrem-T, which makes semi-conductors, has accumulated significant debts and is set to be taken over by state development bank VEB after failing to reimburse an 815-million-euro ($944.75 million) loan dating back to 2008, said Leonid Reiman, chairman of the company’s board of directors.
