In this page I would like to sketch out the main characteristic features of the Belarusian semiconductor industry - one of the main branches of Belarusian economy. I would appreciate any remarks or comments from Belarusian engineers, who were/are directly involved into this industry.

News on Belarusian "Silicon Valley"

Belarus is going to attempt to create a mini Silicon Valley - a hi-tech park in Minsk for Belarusian offshore programming firms, hardware manufacturers and research facilities. The will be considerable tax breaks (5% tax on profit) apparently. But how stable this will be when surrounded by socialism? Can Belarus pull the same trick as China did? The hope is that this will stop young Belarusian brains from running away to the West and create conditions for domestic hi-tech growth. 

• http://www.e-xecutive.ru/discussions/forum_2466/msg_77131/

• http://neg.by/news/09.11.2004/2740.html

• http://vojti.com/archives/2005/03/02/127/

• http://www.export.by/rus/news2.php?n_id=585

History: 

During the USSR times Belarus semiconductor industry was taking care of the mass manufacturing of main-stream semiconductor elements, ICs and computer chips. While the most sophisticated chips were manufactured in Zelenograd (in suburban Moscow) Belarusian enterprises were mostly oriented on consumer electronics and mid-level ICs. The main Belarusian semiconductor consortium - Research and Production Corporation "Integral" - is in fact the largest in Eastern Europe semiconductor company. Many of the ICs manufactured in USSR are reverse engineered or even direct copies of Western ICs. There are even conversion tables of Western to Russian types of chips and ICs. Last year Integral has sold about 100 million US$ worth memory chips to Japan. Below we would like to give some links to existing sites of Belarusian semiconductor companies with minor comments.

RPC Integral official website.

This main belarusian semiconductor consortsium"Integral" in fact consists of 6 plants and 3 design centers providing complete cycle of production of electronic components. The headquarters of "Integral" are located in Dziarzhinski Plant. Below are the links to the constituents of Integhral. Some of them have searcheable databases of products in .pdf format.

• Dziarzhinsky Plant
  Integral cirquits. Masks. Equipment: for banks and shops, medical, special technological. Computers. Telephone sets. LCDs. TV-sets. Tooling.
  Republic Belarus, 220064, Minsk, Kazintsa sq.
  Ph: (+375-17) 2773-232; marketing (+375-17) 2772-031; sales (+375-17) 2781-251; fax: (+375-17) 2781-622; Teletype/Telex: 252168 SKIF BY

• Belmicrosystems DTD
  Integrated cirquits and discrete devices design. Technology and production process design. Software and CAD systems development.
  Republic Belarus, 220064, Minsk, Kazintsa sq.
  Ph.:(+375-17) 2771-523; marketing (+375-17) 2772-461; Fax (+375-17) 2782-822; Teletype/Telex 252168 SKIF BY

• Electronmash SDD
  Design of equipment: special technological, for banks, shops and hospitals.
  Republic Belarus, 220064, Minsk, Kazintsa sq.
  Ph.:(+375-17) 2773-050; (+375-17) 2780-512; marketing (+375-17) 2782-400; Fax
  (+375-17) 2771-812; (+375-17) 2781-638; Teletype/Telex 252168 SKIF BY

• Transistar
  The State Enterprise Transistor Plant is the largest producer of different semiconductor devices - transistors, for one :), MOSFET devices, varicaps, rectifiers, diodes, logical ICs, specialized ICs, microprocessors, SMOS ROM, etc. Visit their site to read more..
  Republic Belarus, 220064, Minsk, Korzhenevskogo st., Transistor Plant.
  Tel: (+375-17) 277-44-41; Fax: (37517) 277-41-41; Teletype: 252169 ROMB BY
  E-mail: trdir@integral.minsk.by

• Elektronika
  State enterprise "Electronika Plant" is the largest manufacturer of electronic wrist, pocket and table watches, telephones, calculators and LCD displays.
  Republic Belarus, 220064, Minsk, Korzhenevskogo st.
  Ph.: (+375-17) 277-30-41; Fax:(+375-17) 278-63-98; Teletype: 252245 MECH
  E-mail: mailelek@elclock.belpak.minsk.by

• Niamiha
  Design of electronic wrist watches, portable computers, TV-sets, medical and agricultural instruments with LCD, household appliance control microprocessor units, credit cards and credit cards terminals. Electronic counters.
  Republic Belarus, 220064, Minsk, Kazintsa sq.
  Ph.:(+375-17) 2774-111; marketing (+375-17) 2773-140; fax (+375-17) 2774-111; Teletype/Telex 252168 SKIF BY

• Zahad SDD
  Design of diodes, table clocks, information devices for agriculture equipment, portable cardiometers, TV games.
  Republic Belarus, 220064, Brest, Suvorova st., 96/1
  Ph.: (+375-162) 433-159; fax (+375-162) 433-159; Teletype/Telex  229272 KORALL BY

• Tsvetotron Plant
  Diodes. Electronic souvenirs. TV games. Special technological equipment. Electronic units for combine harvesters and tractors. Dosimeters.
  Republic Belarus, 224011, Brest, Kariernaya st., 11
  Ph.: (+375-162) 427-223; marketing (+375-162) 434-458; sales (+375-162) 422-070; fax (+375-162) 410-958; Teletype/Telex 229272 KORALL BY

• Kamerton Plant
  Silicon substrates. Electronic and mechanical watches. Pedometers. Arterial pressure meters. Dosimeters. Straps, bracelets, cases and fittings for watches. Electronic games. Special technological equipment.
  Republic Belarus, 224011, Brest region, Pinsk, Brestskaya st., 137
  Ph.: (+375-1653) 41-580; marketing, sales (+375-1653) 45-741; fax (+375-1653) 41-884; Teletype/Telex 229662 NOTA BY

Integral in the news sources

1996, EE Times: Motorola pursues pact to have Integral make chips
1998: Motorola Abandons Joint Venture Project with Integral
Some info on the history of Integral creation
Investment at Integral
Integral sells 100 million US$/year worth memory chips to Japan
Russia:and Belarus - New Sources for ICs

Other semiconductor and electronic companies in Belarus

Monolit Corp.  - capacitor manufacturing company, Vitebsk.

Izmeritel'  - pressure transducers sensitive elements and semiconductor fab, Navapolacak.

Planar - photolithography company. It has been recently renamed SMC-Belarus

P.A. Radiovolna - one of the largest electronics enterprizes in Belarus

Solidex PI - Sun Microsystems Business Partners In Belarus and CIS

Belarusian power semiconductor elements manufacturers - partners of the International Rectifier

Other related information:

• Nanomeeting-99 - May 17-21, 1999, Minsk, Belarus
• Display Technologies in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus
• Belarusian research in diode pumped solid state lasers
• Institute of Molecular and Atomic Physics
• The Laboratory of Image Processing and Recognition
• Display Technologies in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus
• The Russia/FSU Semiconductor Industry