The legacy of the USSR gives Russia a weighty argument in the economic war with the West

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World manufacturers of microelectronics are sounding the alarm. Reducing the supply of neon gas from Russia and Ukraine could turn into a serious crisis in this high-tech area.

According to the announced data, stocks of neon in warehouses are left for 1,5-2 months. At the same time, more than half of the world's exports of this gas are accounted for by Russia and Ukraine.



It is worth noting that we owe the Soviet Union the current dominance in the neon market, in fact, like many others. The thing is that in the last century, this gas was produced mainly at steel mills and was not very in demand.

However, thanks to the program for the development of laser weapons, which the Soviet Union seriously engaged in in the 70s, neon in our country received the status of a strategic product. Its production was carried out in Russia, and cleaning in Ukraine.

Despite the fact that the laser program of the USSR was not fully implemented, and the Union itself collapsed in 1991, neon production was maintained. And, as it turned out, not in vain. Today, 83% of the consumption of this gas is in the semiconductor industry, and the US dependence on our neon reaches a whopping 95%.

The events of 2014 in Ukraine made microelectronics manufacturers seriously nervous. Fearing a shutdown of enterprises in Mariupol and Odessa, importers staged a real panic on the market, inflating prices for neon by almost 10 times.

However, if everything worked out for foreign companies then, now the situation is different. Factories in Mariupol and Odessa have not been working since the end of February, and their prospects are completely vague.

In the current realities, the legacy of the Soviet Union gives our country a weighty argument in economic war with the West. At the same time, the latter did not have much time to think.

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    1. +1
      26 March 2022 13: 46
      This collective West will still have to answer for all its sanctions.
      1. 0
        26 March 2022 14: 08
        for sure, and first of all, the Euro-NATO members will not be in trouble! I think they have two years to puff up, a maximum of three until the time when the United States staggers, and the northern fur animal approaches them))
    2. +2
      27 March 2022 06: 57
      The best argument in any war is a personal (nationwide) example of an efficient economy.

      It is not enough to produce neon. We must try to produce, on its basis, industrial lasers. God knows what a complicated thing.

      All conditions have been created for "investors" to make such a turnaround. And if rich Russians are not used to "earning" on high-tech products, except by sucking out the bowels, this is their misfortune. Then, they must become bankrupt... And this is already a function of the state. And their places should be taken by more energetic and educated owners.
    3. 0
      28 March 2022 08: 01
      The trouble is that our liberals did not seek to build capitalism in Russia, they were quite satisfied with post-Soviet feudalism, when the bluff-feeling pre-grabbers of the USSR's public heritage saw the budget along with the authorities. So

      The summary is as follows: if the goal of “effective managers” was a quasi-protestant thirst for profit, then it made no sense for them to reform the Soviet “planned” industry into a peripheral “market” industry, it was much easier to organize the usual in such greedy cases, the accurate collection of “golden eggs”. The liberals simply could not (or was it not part of their task? - I.S.) dispose of the fallen wealth, did not extract a stream of profit by increasing funds, but ate away what they got from the shrinking stream of production. And when the production flow began to dry up, the wrong "investment climate", the wrong "people", the wrong "institutions", etc. were blamed. ... Therefore, the "recipe" for future success for Russia today is very simple: do not sell any of the real assets we have for any money, and even more so for dollars. And then others will pay for our prosperity. Otherwise, we will have to pay for someone else's prosperity. What we actually did and continue to do for the last quarter of a century. Isn't it time to stop stepping on this liberal-monetarist rake?!

      WHITE PAPER. Economic reforms in Russia 1991–2001, http://lib.rus.ec/b/103718
    4. 0
      10 June 2022 22: 00
      Well, America and Europe will remain without microelectronics! Again they will switch to abacus, sticks and carrier pigeons! The Wild West will soon be Wild again!