The plant started as a part of NIIME (Scientific and research institute of molecular electronics), when the
Soviet Union attempted follow the Western countries' development on microelectronics. The plant had adopted its current name and became a standalone entity by 1970. The USSR invested heavily in Mikron, and developed technologies used for the
Soviet space program there. The
Elbrus computer systems was first produced by that time. The 1980s
US embargo on hi-tech exports affected USSR's ability to produce new chips. Unable to come up with new designs, Mikron and other semiconductor manufacturers resorted to copying foreign designs through the means of
reverse-engineering. The
ES EVM computer system of the era are
unlicensed replicas of the
IBM/360 series, and the two were generally compatible. Following Soviet Union's opening to international trades in 1990, Mikron was contracted by
Samsung to manufacture chips for wrist watches and calculators. The company collaborated with
STMicroelectronics to start a
180 nm process node in 2007. Mikron obtained a license to import
90 nm process in 2010. The design and production facilities cost a total of 16.57 billion
Rubles, about half of it was financed by
Rusnano. Production started in 2012-2013. Mikron first
taped-out experimental
65 nm samples in 2013; it has never produced any 65
nm products as of 2024. Due to
quality control issues, the scheduled production of the
Elbrus-2SM never started, with the processor eventually manufactured entirely by
TSMC. After
international sanctions for
Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, TSMC cut ties with the Mikron and supply of Elbrus-2SM ceased, forcing Mikron to bring the production back to its own facilities again. Instead of TSMC's
28 nm process
from 2010, the new chips are produced with the 90 nm process
from 2003. By early 2023, Mikron's production consisted entirely of chips for
contactless smart cards (i.e.,
transit cards). It started constructing a new plant in
Zelenograd.. MIK32 is the first product to be
packaged by Mikron itself. == US sanctions ==