Ukrainian strikes on Yandex’s data centers could set back Russia’s AI development by years. Never a rival to the U.S. or China in AI, Russia may now fall behind Kazakhstan, too.
Ukrainian attacks on Yandex’s data centers have hit key growth areas for Russia’s leading IT company: search and AI. All three Yandex supercomputers — Chervonenkis, Lyapunov, and Galushkin — likely suffered serious damage from fire and smoke. Soot may have reached their electronics through cooling systems that use outside air. Cleaning could take months, while replacing damaged NVIDIA chips could…
Ukrainian strikes on Yandex's data centers have caused significant damage to Russia's leading IT company, potentially setting back its AI development by years. All three Yandex supercomputers - Chervonenkis, Lyapunov, and Galushkin - likely suffered serious damage from fire and smoke, with soot potentially reaching their electronics through cooling systems that use outside air.
Cleaning the equipment may take months, and replacing damaged NVIDIA chips could take years due to equipment shortages. Russia risks falling behind Kazakhstan in the AI race as early as November. The first attack occurred on October 7-8 in Sasovo, Ryazan region, followed by attacks on Kaluga and Vladimir on October 10-11. Four specialists interviewed by T-invariant are convinced that the company's computing capacity has suffered severe damage, attributing it to the reliance on direct free cooling, which uses outside air.
Liquid cooling systems, which offer better protection in fire, are not yet fully implemented in all data centers. The attacks have caused a loss of computing capacity, impacting Yandex's market capitalization and potentially setting back its AI development for months or years.
Written by urgent.news from Meduza (English)'s reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
