The Chinese government has banned the supply of Loongson processors based on its own LoongArch architecture to Russia. According to Kommersant, this is due to the fact that in China the technology is recognized as strategically important and is used in the military-industrial complex of the country.
As the newspaper notes, Russian electronics manufacturers have previously tested Chinese processors (if necessary, they could replace Intel and AMD processors that left Russia), but now it will be impossible to officially purchase them.
“Although Russian companies were not very dependent on Chinese processors, with a theoretical blocking of parallel imports, they hoped to switch to Loongson solutions,” the Kommersant source notes. Also, the publication clarifies, while laptops and motherboards on Loongson can be bought on AliExpress, so experts admit that the ban will be formal.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the leading manufacturers of processors, which were used, among other things, by domestic computers, suspended deliveries to Russia.
