Experts: Yandex may replace Nvidia GPUs with local, Chinese units

MOSCOW, Feb 7 (PRIME) -- The number of graphics processing units (GPUs) by U.S. maker Nvidia that were brought to Russia under parallel import is not enough and Internet company Yandex could replace them in projects with national units or Chinese analogues, experts told PRIME late on Monday.

“The termination of shipments of the units certainly makes the expansion and maintenance of the current clusters more complicated. In order to support the current clusters companies have to use the units brought under parallel import, while it would be easier for expansion to move toward Chinese producers,” Alexander Biryukov, head for IT and developments at the National Technology Initiative’s center of excellence von big data, said.

Droneshub founder and General Director Maxim Tomskikh said the situation with the lack of Nvidia’s equipment became noticeable in 2022 when several projects related to drones were closed, but the absence of Nvidia is not critical.

“The largest developers of drones and artificial intelligence will get adapted somehow and continue to work, switch to alternative imported options or start developing something entirely their own,” he said.

Business daily Vedomosti reported earlier quoting sources in IT firms that the lack of GPUs by Nvidia, which suspended shipments to Russia immediately after the start of the special operation in Ukraine, could mothball Yandex’s projects of drones and artificial intelligence.

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