Bloggers and all all all… Part 2

Our previous article, where we asked several questions to the IMAXAI blogger (aka Maxim Gorshenin), for some reason was left without due attention. We assumed that Maxim was deceived again, and his best friends, who “developed everything themselves”, in fact, were not so “themselves”, but simply drew their brand in the silkscreen of a Chinese board.

Since Maxim for some reason did not want to ask our uncomfortable questions to his friends in the name of “import substitution”, we now have questions for Maxim himself. Is the goal of his activities real import substitution, or is he simply promoting those who cooperate with him and drowning others who refused his offers for mercantile purposes, riding the wave of hype and outrageousness? And what will happen if those whom he so fervently elevates to the pedestal of import substitution turn out to be ~~ordinary~~ advanced “nameplate re-stickers”? Interesting? Well, today we'll take a closer look at another friend of the blogger – the GS Group company, whose products our protégé, by the way, sells on his website.

So, at the beginning of June, the blogger posted a one and a half hour video fascinating video about GS Group. We highly recommend watching it, but if you don't have the desire or time, there will be a brief summary below.

In this video, top managers of GS Group talk about their successes and demonstrate good knowledge of the regulatory framework in terms of the requirements of 719 RF PP on the criteria for recognizing products as domestic.

For example, executive director Vladimir Dmitriev said that they want their product to be 100% Russian.

The blogger and the executive director also discussed various situations of unfair inclusion of products in the register.

The top manager of GS Group also stated once again that ourselves are developing integrated circuits

The general director of the subsidiary company GS Nanotech Evgeny Kozakov spoke about the process of manufacturing microcircuits, and also discussed how to distinguish domestic microcircuits from non-domestic ones.

It was determined that for second-level microcircuits it is necessary that development integrated circuit was held on the territory of the Russian Federation

And the GS Group representatives said that they have their own microcircuits and they are proud of them! And they also announced that by the end of the year they will release several more denominations of new microcircuits.

Indeed, several microcircuits produced by JSC GS-Nanotech have been included in the register of domestic products under Resolution 719 of the Government of the Russian Federation.

And this list is constantly being updated, which GS Group reports on its information resources, for example, in telegram

Well, we became interested in NOR Flash memory chips from GS Group and decided to try them. Especially since their use gives up to 12 points in auto electronics. But before buying them, of course, we checked them according to formal criteria. demand 719 PP RF, in order for a microcircuit to be recognized as domestic, several requirements must be met, in particular:

...Выполнение на территории Российской Федерации следующих операций: проектирование и разработка интегральной схемы, разработка топологии интегральной схемы;...

наличие ... прав на топологию интегральной схемы, зарегистрированных на территории Российской Федерации в установленном порядке в федеральном органе исполнительной власти по интеллектуальной собственности...

And indeed, on the Rospatent website, GS has three topologies registered

The certificate for the memory chip even indicates the authors of the topology of this memory chip: Subcontractors Sergey Fedorovich (RU), Katin Dmitry Yuryevich (RU).

And judging by the evidence, the topology was developed by Russian developers. Well, we must take it!

Hurray, we got our hands on 16 Mbit NOR-Flash memory chips from JSC GS-nanotech GSN2516Y (in LGA41 case) and GSN2517Y (in SOP-8 case).

Well, of course we couldn't resist – and we climbed up to see what kind of crystal was installed in the microcircuit, a little chemistry and a microscope and …

A little more microscope…And!!!!

Yes… no. This can't be. Look closely! Let's open the second one, which is in the SOP-8 case….

No, this can’t be, because Maxim Goshenin said that these are the coolest guys in the world!

If anyone hasn't noticed yet, here it is:

The crystal bears the markings of the Taiwanese company WinBond, one of the leaders in the production of memory chips (https://www.winbond.com/hq?__locale=en).

“Wait! You know what time it is!” – the valiant defender of the borders of the motherland will say. And really, maybe they are just disguising themselves as the famous Taiwanese manufacturer of memory chips Winbond in order to avoid sanctions? And on their topology, made according to an independently developed electrical circuit, the GS developers applied the topology of a Taiwanese company. Well, it is easy to check, especially since it turned out to be much easier to buy a W25Q16JL chip in Russia than to get them from GS.

A little bit of chemistry again

And unfortunately, the natural and expected result is that its topology coincides with the topology that was allegedly developed at GS.

Miracles do not happen. Does anyone really think that even the most talented candidate of physical and mathematical sciences from Petrozavodsk State University will be able to develop a circuit, lay out the topology and manufacture it at a factory in half a year and get a working QSPI NOR-Flash with a capacity of 16 Mbit on the first try, and even using 55 nm technology?

Perhaps someone still does not believe what happened, because Maxim Gorshenin himself said that GS Group is great. And you (meaning we) lawyers are still weirdos with the letter “M”, besides, you (meaning we) are biased bastards.

Yes, we are like that…

And as lawyers, we warn you that if our suspicions are justified, and the microcircuits really did illegally get into the register, then the house of cards will start to crumble. These microcircuits are excluded from the register, and after that, all products that received the status of domestic due to the use of supposedly domestic microcircuits from GS are removed from the register. On the one hand, we certainly feel sorry for the possibly conscientious consumers who were misled by the advertising from blogger Maxim Gorshenin. But unfortunately, the developers are also to blame. An experienced developer would have immediately seen the identity of the documentation from G.S. And WINBOND . But we will also show it, so as not to read too much. So here is a little more import substitution from GS Group:

Were the “developers” from GS really so ashamed and lazy to edit the documentation that they simply removed the word “WINBOND” everywhere? Unfortunately, after that the documentation became incomplete and does not tell us, for example, that the manufacturer's code (Manufacturer ID) hardwired into the chip is equal to EFh and corresponds to Winbond. But the trouble is that the manufacturer's code is preserved on the timing diagram and in the chip itself.

Well, dear reader, it's time for you to think about thinking with your head, not with your emotions. And our reader will stop believing ~~cheap~~ expensive advertising from all sorts of bloggers. Try to answer for yourself – is Maxim Goshenin an ideological fighter for import substitution? Or is he just a PR slicker who is trying to make money on a hot topic? Or was he unlucky again, and those with whom he linked his blogging career in the field of demonstrating successes in import substitution turned out to be ordinary badge-repeaters upon inspection? Or does he know what he is dealing with, but the money wins?

Why are we raising this issue? There is a war going on in the industry now between ours, who actually develop things themselves, and ours, but not ours, who buy ready-made projects from the Chinese, and then draw their logo on the silkscreen of the printed circuit board and assure that it is now theirs. And unfortunately, “ours, who are not ours” are winning. Don't believe us? Then we will tell you how it works.

For products from the same 719 RF PP, for example, in computers, monitors and other computing equipment, the following requirement is given:

наличие...прав на конструкторскую и технологическую документацию в объеме, достаточном для проектирования, производства, модернизации и развития соответствующей продукции на территории Российской Федерации...

And let us recall how a similar requirement is written for microcircuits (OKPD2 26.11.3):

It seems that both here and there there is some kind of legal bird language, but it seems that the words are correct and true, even for the deduction there are clearer rules (understandable to us lawyers), but the secret meaning is hidden as always.

Therefore, we will explain what the difference is. The difference is in the mandatory requirement of “development on the territory of the Russian Federation”.

When receiving a conclusion on domesticity for a conventional motherboard for a computer, the applicant company, with a clear eye, shows the experts a license agreement with a Chinese company (and it would be good if it was the one we wrote about last time) on the transfer of rights to a set of design documentation, and in this agreement it is specifically highlighted in bold that the transfer of rights implies that the new owner It has the right to use it for design, production, modernization and development on the territory of the Russian Federation. That is, the applicant actually bought the necessary design data from the Chinese, but did not develop it himself. And now, according to this design documentation, with a small revision (the necessary logo is now in the silkscreen printing of the printed circuit boards), monitors are being manufactured. Some could not even think of erasing the logo of the Chinese company.

On one board there is a label of both the Russian company and the Chinese company JRY (photo from the website gisp.gow.ru) — On one board there is a label of both a Russian company and a Chinese company JRY (photo from the website gisp.gow.ru)

When these rules were introduced, lobbyists advocating for them assured everyone that this was a forced measure and that we needed to buy other people's designs (yes, and in 21 everyone understood perfectly well that this would happen). And labists assured that later, we ourselves would develop everything based on them and start doing better.

But what actually happened?

And what happened was what was supposed to happen. It is always easier to buy, especially since it is not prohibited. And when a new development is needed or even just to correct some defect in the old design, instead of developing a new version with the help of Russian engineers, the cunning businessmen from Vychtech simply license a new Chinese set of design documentation.

Yes, of course, there are good guys in Vychtekh, and do you know what distinguishes them from the bad ones? It is the use of domestic microcircuits from the register in their developments. Any, as long as they exist. And yes, their designs are still inferior to Chinese ones, but they are made in the Russian Federation.

Therefore, “not ours”, in order to be more like ours, have taken the path they have already trodden many paths – they are trying to give imported microcircuits the status of domestic ones. And here real Russian microcircuit developers hold the last line of defense.

“The development of the scheme and topology must be carried out on the territory of the Russian Federation”

From a legal point of view, this requirement is very weak and practically unprovable. It is practically impossible to come up with an adequate algorithm that would convincingly confirm that the development was produced in Russia. And we have to go the other way, convincingly proving that the development was not made in Russia.

In the case of GS, the situation is so obvious that we managed to illustrate it clearly. The crystals are marked with the real manufacturer's markings, and in this case, it is simply most likely not a question of buying a CD, but ready-made wafers were bought and packaged under the desired brand. That is, in reality, in Russia there are no rights to either the circuit, or the topology, or the photomasks for making wafers. And most importantly, GS does not have the knowledge of what to do if WINBOND removes the W25Q16 microcircuit from production. How will GS be able to transfer this design to another factory, including a promising Russian factory. And we are very sorry that Maxim Gorshenin, who, as a native of the microelectronics industry, unfortunately, seems to have taken the path of betrayal.