The history of computing in the Soviet Union began in the late 1940s, when the country began to develop its Small Electronic Calculating Machine (MESM) at the Kiev Institute of Electrotechnology in Feofaniya. Initial ideological opposition to cybernetics in the Soviet Union was overcome by a Khrushchev era policy that encouraged computer production. Nearly all Soviet computer manufacturers ceased operations after the breakup of the Soviet Union. A few companies that survived into 1990s used foreign components and never achieved large production volumes.