Russian processors cannot yet compete with Intel

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has shown us how fragile our supply chains have become. Many products are sometimes only manufactured in certain regions of the world, which is a consequence of the fact that microchips have become so rare in the last two years. This is one of the reasons why Russia would like to purchase more products from the domestic market.

This is why the country has developed its own small technology sector in the past. In addition to software products, the associated hardware should also be “Made in Russia”. The MCST Elbrus-8C processors now show that this does not work out with processors.

SberTech, the technology division of Russia’s largest bank, compared the Elbrus-8C with systems with Intel Xeon Gold 6230 and sobered to discover that the technology is making great strides, but at the same time is not yet suitable for everyday tasks within the company.

SberTech is not alone in this. Russian chips have already been installed in many places in the past, but when it comes to critical infrastructure, you are still dependent on companies such as AMD and Intel. In the test field set up by SberTech, the Elbrus-8C failed in 84 percent of the functional test cases, and the chip could not withstand other tests or only incompletely.

Still, all hope is not lost. Experts say that although the chip has many disadvantages, it can still be used with it. In addition, adjustments in the software can optimize the current behavior and thus get the maximum out of the processor.

It should also be positively emphasized that such processors already exist, even if the development of new generations still takes far too long. Years can quickly pass before a concept is converted into a finished chip. During this time, companies such as AMD and Intel have long since overtaken the progress made. So it remains to be seen how chip development “Made in Russia” will progress in the future.

Via Tom’s hardware