Nvidia chip shortage may slow down Yandex projects on drones and AI

In the spring of 2022, Yandex was supposed to receive a large batch of Nvidia devices, but after the start of a special operation in Ukraine, the delivery fell through. Since then, the import of these devices into Russia has only been possible through parallel imports, but it is problematic to import chips in the volumes necessary for the company, the sources told Vedomosti.

The technical director of SKB Kontur, Artem Preskaryan, noted that the problems of companies against the background of the exit of foreign suppliers are the lack of technical support for equipment, access to updates, as well as guarantees of an adequate level of performance if the the equipment is supplied to the country by parallel importation.

Furthermore, the risks of remote shutdown of devices cannot be ruled out. In Russia, it is worth establishing a partial localization of production. “At the moment, we can produce processors by ordering foreign companies, mainly Chinese. But the development of the architecture of motherboards, their production from supplied components must be organized in Russia, ”added Ilya Bulaev, head of digital transformation projects at R-Style Softlab.

The authorities, for their part, can develop measures that oblige foreign companies that left to provide technical support and comply with guarantee obligations. In case of non-compliance with the obligations, apply pecuniary sanctions to said companies.

The Yandex press service, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the government did not respond to the request for the publication.