Just like they did back in 2023, Ukraine has hit a Russian semiconductor fab with drones:
The fab they hit is the Bolkhov Semiconductor factory in Bolkhov, Oryol oblast.
According to this source (grains of salt in order):
The main areas of activity include the production of semiconductor devices, microelectronics, power electronics, diodes and diode assemblies, chips for switching power supplies, optoelectronic switches, and servo drives.
The company supplies products to at least 19 companies in the Russian military-industrial complex, including Sukhoi aircraft, Iskander and Kinzhal missiles.
Despite the fact that the plant is under international sanctions, it produces almost 3 million devices annually and employs about 700 people.
Ten units of UAVs have been confirmed to have reached the target area.
From the video, it’s hard to tell exactly what equipment was hit. Some sort of process machine on the left, and what look like individual microscope wafer inspection stations to the right. With ten drones I’m sure a lot more than what we see in this little snippet was hit.
Irrespective of whatever actually process equipment was damaged or destroyed, this fab is clearly toast. Even if they decided to rebuild (doubtful), it will be months and months to clean things up, repair the walls, floors, etc. And then you need to decontaminate everything and requal the machines, which is a huge pain in the ass.
I’m assuming all the machines in there were very old tech. For one thing, they don’t even build fabs with windows these days, since the temperature controls are so exacting. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that replacements could be found for some of the process equipment, but if the hit something like a stepper or ion implanter, replacements for those are going to be extremely hard to come by under sanctions. I imagine that various international organizations are watching even used equipment sales. Maybe China has replacements, and maybe they don’t.
Even for trailing edge fabs, semiconductor manufacturing is an exacting process with tight tolerances. Every time Ukraine successfully attacks a Russian fab, it puts a big hole in Russia’s weapons pipeline that’s time-consuming and difficult to fix.
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5 Responses to “Ukraine Hits Another Russian Semiconductor Fab”
“Some sort of process machine on the left, and what look like individual microscope wafer inspection stations to the right.”
JSC Bolkhov’s Bolkhovsky facility produces MOSFET devices. Their MOSFETs are semiconductors, but not really ICs.
The “process machine” on the left is an electrical enclosure, similar to our NEMA standard enclosures. Another electrical enclosure can be seen at the back wall.
The “inspection stations” are some kind of assembly area, probably MOSFET device assembly and packaging. These operations do not require special cleanliness.
The electrical enclosures probably contained power supplies for the resistance welding equipment used to seal MOSFET devices in steel and/or plastic packages.
Looks like a morning strike when there were no employees present. Not sure if that was to evade air defenses. Better to have killed employees.
The plant was about 100 miles from Ukraine, wonder why it was not moved further away? 100 miles is about the distance of Taiwan from China. The Taiwanese should be paying attention to this one.
I hate when reports say “drones” and do not identify anything about them or the explosives. Looks like most of the fire damage was secondary and of building materials (ceilings and furniture), not inventory or casings.
“Looks like a morning strike when there were no employees present. Not sure if that was to evade air defenses. Better to have killed employees.
The plant was about 100 miles from Ukraine, wonder why it was not moved further away? 100 miles is about the distance of Taiwan from China. The Taiwanese should be paying attention to this one.
I hate when reports say “drones” and do not identify anything about them or the explosives. Looks like most of the fire damage was secondary and of building materials (ceilings and furniture), not inventory or casings.”
The Ukrainian have at least 10 different type of long range kamikaze drones in service and their strike packages usually consist of several different types. The Russians say this strike consisted of 232 drones, two of which evaded Russian air defenses and struck the Bolkhovsky facility.
Neither the Ukrainians nor the Russians have the manpower to launch and operate hundreds of drones simultaneously, so large drone swarms are spread out over time. This attack took at least four hours, so Russian civil defense had considerable time to warn the residents of Oryol Oblast to take cover.
The Russian 2K22 Tunguska’s 30mm RADAR directed 2A38 autocannons are the Russian’s primary defense against propeller driven, long range kamikaze drones. These vehicles hold only 1,900 rounds of ammunition under armor and fire bursts of 50 or more rounds at each target. They quickly expend their onboard ammunition and have to be reloaded. The Ukrainians launch a lot of drones in these strikes to deplete the ammunition stores of the Tunguskas and get follow on drones through to the target while the Tunguskas are being reloaded.
The Russians think this strike was launched from Sumy Oblast, about 200 miles from the Bolkhovsky facility. Don’t think the Russians consider the Bolkhovsky facility critical because MOSFET devices are commodity items available from China and other allies for a dime-a-dozen. The Bolkhovsky facility may well have been abandoned at the time of the strike.
The Russians launch observation drones after they pick up drone swarms on RADAR in an attempt to target Ukrainian launch sites with artillery strikes. In this case, the Russian drones observed small arms training on a firing range in Sumy Oblast and struck it with a 9K720 Iskander M missile, killing a lot of recruits and trainers, maybe 110.
The Russians believe these vengeance strikes are the most effective anti drone tactic. The Ukrainian public is howling for dismissals and prosecutions of the AFU officers which ordered the Sumy small arms training. The AFU has retaliated by launching about 500 long range drones at several Russian targets over the last 24 hours, but none seem to have gotten through.
“Some sort of process machine on the left, and what look like individual microscope wafer inspection stations to the right.”
JSC Bolkhov’s Bolkhovsky facility produces MOSFET devices. Their MOSFETs are semiconductors, but not really ICs.
The “process machine” on the left is an electrical enclosure, similar to our NEMA standard enclosures. Another electrical enclosure can be seen at the back wall.
The “inspection stations” are some kind of assembly area, probably MOSFET device assembly and packaging. These operations do not require special cleanliness.
The electrical enclosures probably contained power supplies for the resistance welding equipment used to seal MOSFET devices in steel and/or plastic packages.
Looks like a morning strike when there were no employees present. Not sure if that was to evade air defenses. Better to have killed employees.
The plant was about 100 miles from Ukraine, wonder why it was not moved further away? 100 miles is about the distance of Taiwan from China. The Taiwanese should be paying attention to this one.
I hate when reports say “drones” and do not identify anything about them or the explosives. Looks like most of the fire damage was secondary and of building materials (ceilings and furniture), not inventory or casings.
Coordinates 53.440502, 36.015221.
In a western semiconductor fab, the lines runs 24/7/365, and people are always present. They’ll pay triple time for people to work holidays.
[…] Ukraine Hits Another Russian Semiconductor Fab. “Irrespective of whatever actually process equipment was damaged or destroyed, this fab is […]
“Looks like a morning strike when there were no employees present. Not sure if that was to evade air defenses. Better to have killed employees.
The plant was about 100 miles from Ukraine, wonder why it was not moved further away? 100 miles is about the distance of Taiwan from China. The Taiwanese should be paying attention to this one.
I hate when reports say “drones” and do not identify anything about them or the explosives. Looks like most of the fire damage was secondary and of building materials (ceilings and furniture), not inventory or casings.”
The Ukrainian have at least 10 different type of long range kamikaze drones in service and their strike packages usually consist of several different types. The Russians say this strike consisted of 232 drones, two of which evaded Russian air defenses and struck the Bolkhovsky facility.
Neither the Ukrainians nor the Russians have the manpower to launch and operate hundreds of drones simultaneously, so large drone swarms are spread out over time. This attack took at least four hours, so Russian civil defense had considerable time to warn the residents of Oryol Oblast to take cover.
The Russian 2K22 Tunguska’s 30mm RADAR directed 2A38 autocannons are the Russian’s primary defense against propeller driven, long range kamikaze drones. These vehicles hold only 1,900 rounds of ammunition under armor and fire bursts of 50 or more rounds at each target. They quickly expend their onboard ammunition and have to be reloaded. The Ukrainians launch a lot of drones in these strikes to deplete the ammunition stores of the Tunguskas and get follow on drones through to the target while the Tunguskas are being reloaded.
The Russians think this strike was launched from Sumy Oblast, about 200 miles from the Bolkhovsky facility. Don’t think the Russians consider the Bolkhovsky facility critical because MOSFET devices are commodity items available from China and other allies for a dime-a-dozen. The Bolkhovsky facility may well have been abandoned at the time of the strike.
The Russians launch observation drones after they pick up drone swarms on RADAR in an attempt to target Ukrainian launch sites with artillery strikes. In this case, the Russian drones observed small arms training on a firing range in Sumy Oblast and struck it with a 9K720 Iskander M missile, killing a lot of recruits and trainers, maybe 110.
The Russians believe these vengeance strikes are the most effective anti drone tactic. The Ukrainian public is howling for dismissals and prosecutions of the AFU officers which ordered the Sumy small arms training. The AFU has retaliated by launching about 500 long range drones at several Russian targets over the last 24 hours, but none seem to have gotten through.