Billionaire Arkadi Wolfe investments in Europe's KI-large-investments
Arkadi Wolosch withdraws from Russia with the sale of Yandex, planning to invest in EU's Artificial Intelligence infrastructure build-up. He has a key partner.
After withdrawing from Russia, Techbillionaire Arkadi Wolosch has decided to start anew in the EU. "The tech industry is dominated by US and Chinese companies. That's unfair," Wolosch told the "Spiegel". He firmly believes that the EU "has enormous potential" in the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, unfortunately, Europe is "a white spot on the tech map" so far.
Wolosch intends to help change that. From Amsterdam, he plans to build up significant computing capacities in Europe with his company "Nebius". This is possible because the EU lifted the sanctions against Wolosch imposed due to the Ukrainian conflict in March.
Nebius will establish large computer capacities in Europe within a few months. "We are building the computer infrastructure that AI developers need to train their models. Our goal is to become one of the largest independent providers in this field worldwide. And we want to do it quickly," so Wolosch. It's about finally providing "computing power that is not tailored to large corporations in China or the US or dependent on them."
Decoupling from Russia
Wolosch plans to increase the capacity of an existing Nebius data center in Finland by a factor of three. Another facility is to be built in Iceland: "We have invested hundreds of millions of euros - and there will be more." The cooperation with chipmaker Nvidia, a supplier of high-performance processors for AI development, is also making this possible. Nebius has a "long-term partnership" with the US company and is even considered a "preferred partner" there, according to Wolosch. The chipmaker supplies Nebius "with all the capacity we need."
Wolosch had built Yandex, the Russian search engine, in Moscow for 30 years and had become a billionaire with it. Due to the annexation of Crimea, he broke off with Russia. The sale of the Yandex business in Russia was finally completed in mid-July. Nebius now has "no connection to Russia. Not a single byte of data flows from us to Moscow," so Wolosch. This "zero-Russia strategy" is currently being reviewed and certified by external consultants. Wolosch expects their final report in the coming months. He is clear: "We have to be purer than the Pope."
Wolosch had built Yandex together with partners since the early 1990s. The company's market capitalization reached nearly 30 billion Euros at its peak. In 2014, Wolosch relocated his base to Tel Aviv. In the summer of 2023, he publicly distanced himself from the Kremlin and announced that he was "categorically against this barbaric invasion."
- Arkadi Wolosch, having withdrawn from Russia, seeks to leverage his investments in the EU's artificial intelligence infrastructure development, partnering with companies like Nvidia to provide independent computing capacities that aren't dominated by large corporations in the US or China.
- As part of his decoupling from Russia, Wolosch plans to expand Nebulus' data center in Finland by a factor of three and establish another facility in Iceland, investing hundreds of millions of euros and relying on a long-term partnership with Nvidia as a preferred supplier.
- With Nebulus' 'zero-Russia strategy' under review by external consultants, the tech billionaire remains committed to separating his European operations completely from Russia, ensuring not a single byte of data is transferred between the two, as he strives for complete purity in his investments.
