It's not surviving in a market, because it's not in a market - it's being produced for a specific consumer, whose requirements are idiosyncratic enough[0] that the market refuses to service them.

0: a very low bar in this case, given the existence of things like Intel Management Engine, but it would be much the same if they insisted on something less justifiable like running all the CPU pins at 12-volt logic levels

They key word is market - The Elbrus is obviously propped up by the Russian government and it's tentacles. It's not an invalid business model but it's not a good way to measure technology.