Russia registers an AI chiplet topology built on AMD and Nvidia principles

Rospatent has registered the topology of a Russian tensor chiplet, a specialized accelerator for artificial intelligence workloads. The rights holder is the Russian Federation, represented by the Foundation for Advanced Research Projects (FPI). This means the state has obtained the exclusive right to distribute the architecture among Russian manufacturers.

What a chiplet is and why this is an

Nvidia-style architecture

A chiplet is a modular architecture for building powerful processors. Instead of one huge monolithic die, the system consists of several ready-made blocks (cores, cache, controllers) joined into a single whole. AMD and Nvidia use this approach to cut development costs. The Russian AI chiplet is built on the same principle.

The process node is 28 nm, which is outdated by current standards: Nvidia H100 chips run on 5 nm and deliver several times the performance. But for a first domestic design, 28 nm is a realistic choice given the technological base available.

Why the state wants its own architecture

Until now, Russian companies that needed AI accelerators either bought Nvidia hardware (when available) or copied the architecture illegally (with legal risks). Now the state can license chiplet production under its own standard. This opens up several paths:

• Domestic design centers will develop AI systems that support the Russian accelerator
• Russian fabs will gain a legal right to manufacture it
• Companies working on government contracts will be able to use domestic chips
• Exports to countries under sanctions are possible

From registration to production

Registering the architecture with Rospatent is an important but intermediate step. Going from design to volume production takes 2-3 years and requires solving numerous technological problems.

"This is a 28 nm architecture created with the available Russian and friendly-country technological base in mind,"

FPI explained.

An older process node means lower performance and higher power consumption. But it is a trade-off: access to modern process nodes requires Western equipment, which is unavailable under sanctions.

What this means

Russia is moving from being a consumer to a developer of AI chips. State backing shows the seriousness of the intent. The main challenge is actually getting production running under technological restrictions.