Founded in 1964, Mikron performs the full cycle of chip manufacturing, including design, silicon facilities, packaging and distribution. Based in Zelenograd, 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Moscow, it is the lead enterprise of the semiconductor division of Sitronics, one of the largest hi-tech companies in Eastern Europe.
The president was shown around a production line for chip modules, which was launched in September and has an estimated annual capacity of 60 million units.
The company accounts for 28% of the microelectronic components used by the defense industry, and President Putin also visited an exhibition of chips used in such defense products as the Su-27 Flanker fighter, the S-300 and the Tor-M1 air defense systems as well as the Soyuz spacecraft.
Alexander Goncharuk, president of AFK Sistema [RTS: AFKS], one of Russia's largest diversified corporations, which includes Sitronics, said the enterprise, which unites six plants, will become one of Europe's leading high-tech centers, with investment to modernize chip-manufacturing alone expected to reach $300 million in 2007.
The plant Tuesday hosts a session of the Council on Science and High Technologies, a consultative body under the president.
