Baikal Electronics has announced plans to launch the production of Russia’s first computer processor for civil use, the Baikal-T1, early next year. Targeting both domestic and international customers, the Russian processor will cost about $60 apiece, reported RBC, a Russian business publication.
The two-kernel processor is reported to use a 32-bit MIPS Warrior kernel. The developer is expected to start with a 100,000 chip production run.
The Baikal-T1 is Russia’s inaugural processor developed for commercial rather than defense purposes. International competitors includes Broadcom’s Stratagx series and Freescale’s QorIQ T1020 series, which cost something between $50 and $70, depending on the size of a batch.
The Baikal T1 microprocessor. (Photo credits: Baikal Electronics)
Should the Russian government starts supporting Baikal Electronics, the company’s new product is likely to get a lot of traction domestically, said Gleb Mishin, CEO for Russia, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe at Lenovo, in an exchange with RBC. For example, government agencies may begin purchasing exclusively computers with the Baikal processors. Back in October, Lenovo said it was interested in using the Baikal in its PCs and mobile gadgets.
Next year, Baikal Electronics reportedly wants to unveil a prototype of its new 28 nanometer Baikal-M chip for ARM architecture based desktops. By the end of 2017, the company hopes to roll out the Baikal-MS, a processor for microservers.
Earlier this year MTsST, a domestic competitor of Baikal Electronics, announced a limited pilot production run of its own Elbrus-8C chips, with plans to sell at least five million chips by the end of 2020.
