CPU collector peels the lid off a Soviet-era ‘fish can’ chip to peer inside with multiple microscopes — K565RU3 was a Cold War-era clone of Western chips that powered Apple II, Commodore PET, and original IBM PC

A Soviet K565PY3 chip.

A fascinating Soviet-era retro electronics artifact was dissected and micrographed by CPU collector CPU Duke this weekend. Under the enthusiast’s selection of microscopes this time was the ‘K565PY3.’ The IC under scrutiny was a Dynamic RAM chip with a 16KB capacity, and this particular sample was believed to have come from the Mezon factory in what is now Moldova. For context, we think the K565PY3 is a reverse-engineered clone of the 1970s/80s era Intel-designed 4116 DRAM chip.

#WeekendDieShots!Thanks to @RetroNora7734 for sending over some Russian ICs. Today, I started with the 16K × 1-bit Dynamic RAM made in Moldova probably at “Mezon” factory.A 🧵…The lid was really solid… had to open it like a fish can… pic.twitter.com/gmhUx1CHmFNovember 2, 2025