Russian billionaire and critics of Vladimir Putin are preparing to invest hundreds of millions of pounds to buy artificial intelligence (AI) data centers in the UK.
Nebius, a Dutch-based technology company, will invest £200 million to build a “AI factory” in the UK and deploy 4,000 graphics processing chips to power the latest generation of machine learning technologies. The $12 billion (£9 billion) business is evaluating potential data center locations in the southeast.
Nebius is part of Yandex, the company known as “Russia's Google.” Russian entrepreneur Arkady Volozh, worth $20 billion, founded Yandex in 1997, is a Russian competitor to the U.S. search engine.
Later on, it went public in New York and had a business value of more than $30 billion in 2021. However, its shares were suspended in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Mr. Voroz were approved by the EU.
Yandex has faced growing pressure from the Kremlin to censoring online news and search results over the years, with Brussels accusing the company of helping spread the Kremlin propaganda.
In 2023, Mr. Volozh labeled Putin's invasion “barbarian” as “barbarian” and said he was “feared” by the war. He said: “I am explicitly opposed to this. Although I moved to Israel in 2014, I have to be responsible for the actions of the country.
“There are some reasons to remain silent during this long process. Although there will be doubts about the timing of my statement today, there should be any doubts about its nature. I am against war.”
The EU lifted sanctions on Mr. Volozh last year.
Nebius is part of Yandex engraving, which provides Russian search ministry to Russian investors in a $5 billion deal. The Naybius listed in the United States consists of the remaining European, American and Israeli assets, including several data centers powered by Nvidia Microchips and their self-driving car technology.
Mr. Volozh, CEO of Nibius, said: “The UK is where AI is built, tested and deployed, from fintech to life sciences. Here we are closer to startups, researchers, researchers and business leaders, shaping the next step.”
Nibius’s UK investment comes after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced plans to join NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang in a speech at London Technology Week in a speech at London Technology Week.
On Monday, the government announced a series of AI investments ahead of this week's fiscal spending review. This includes £1 billion for AI research resources, which consists of powerful AI data centers and supercomputers, and £187 million to improve the technical skills of the UK workforce.
