Developer of Irtys chip received right to sell Chinese Loongson servers in Russia

The company — developer of the Russian Irtys processor — completed compliance declarations for Chinese servers built on Loongson processors, obtaining the right to sell them on the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union; the decision came against the backdrop of earlier objections from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which saw these chips as a threat to national security.

What Exactly the Developer Obtained

• The company completed compliance declarations for servers based on Chinese Loongson processors
• The declarations grant the right to sell these servers in the territory of EAEU countries, including Russia
• Previously, the Ministry of Industry and Trade publicly called Loongson chips a potential national security threat
• The permission was filed by the company — developer of the domestic Irtys processor

What the

Ministry of Industry and Trade Said About Loongson Concerns

Loongson is a line of processors that since the 2000s has been developed by the Chinese state company based on its own LoongArch architecture (previously a modified MIPS architecture). The chips were created by China largely as a response to the risk of restricted access to Western processor technologies and are actively promoted as the basis for critical infrastructure within China itself. Russian regulators, including the Ministry of Industry and Trade, at various times have pointed to risks of dependence of Russian IT infrastructure on foreign, including Chinese, hardware platforms — especially if equipment is intended for use in security-sensitive segments.

How This Relates to Chip Import Substitution in Russia

Russia's own processors, such as Elbrus and Baikal, are produced in limited batches and still heavily depend on foreign contract manufacturing — primarily Taiwan's TSMC, access to which for Russian customers has been complicated by sanctions. Faced with a shortage of server equipment, Chinese platforms like Loongson are becoming a practical alternative for Russian integrators, though they raise questions about a new form of technological dependence — now from Chinese rather than Western suppliers.

What This Means

The permission to sell Loongson servers demonstrates how in practice the conflict is being resolved between two priorities of Russian IT policy: the urgent need for affordable server equipment amid the exit of Western vendors and the wariness of regulators toward growing dependence of critical infrastructure on Chinese suppliers.