Russian CPU manufacturer Baikal is reportedly on the brink of bankruptcy as it moves towards auctioning out its assets.
Russian Domestic CPU Maker, Baikal Electronics, Is Now Selling IP Assets Worth $5 Million; Company Sees This With "Optimism"
Russian CPU manufacturer, Baikal, is a part of T-Platforms, a Russian venture specializing in exascale computing. With the inauguration of Baikal, the company gained immense traction in Russia, due to its motive of "in-house" CPU harvest. However, fate didn't go their way, as CNews reports that the firm is moving towards auctioning out intellectual property, which includes patents and information related to domestically produced CPUs.
The estimated amount is reported at 484 million rubles or around USD $5 million, which isn't large but still considerable for a company like Baikal. However, the company's CEO, Andrey Evdokimov, has claimed that the transfer of IP won't hinder the company's development. He emphasized encouraging the auction, claiming that the company itself would aid the process. The CEO believes this stage is "encouraging" and would lead to developments within the "products and ecosystem at Baikal." We won't investigate the reason behind the bankruptcy, but it concerns internal T-Platform rifts.
Baikal Electronics can be labeled a "trendsetter" in encouraging in-house production of domestic CPUs for the Russian market since the company has worked thoroughly on its Baikal-M lineup. The company even tried to integrate Baikal CPUs into laptops as well, but such laptops couldn't gain traction in the industry. Recent benchmarks of the company's Baikal-S processor revealed that it couldn't beat offerings from Intel and Huawei dating back to 2019, demonstrating the chipmaker's "outdated" approach.
It was previously reported that Baikal Electronics aims to shift its approach towards ASICs for the AI industry, which could be one of the reasons why its CEO sees asset selling as an opportunity. Maybe the company has decided to completely shift its focus towards AI, which is the right move given that the industry is currently witnessing an "AI gold rush."
However, we are still uncertain about Baikal's future approach or existence; hence, leading to conclusions is difficult. We do hope that the company makes its way back into the industry since, either way, Baikal CPUs were seen as a hope to bring diversity within the CPU industry and more importantly for the Russian domestic userbase.
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