- Yandex’s non-Russian assets become Nebius, an AI infrastructure company.
- Led by Arkady Volozh, it aims for European market dominance.
- Nebius leverages experienced talent and $2.5 billion capital.
A not-so-startup startup
In an unexpected twist, Yandex’s demise has given birth to Nebius, an AI infrastructure company with grand ambitions.
Led by Yandex co-founder Arkady Volozh, Nebius emerges as a unique entity – a public company with 1,300 employees and $2.5 billion in capital, yet positioning itself as a startup.
Volozh describes it as “starting up, but an unusually big one,” highlighting the scale of resources required for their ambitious AI infrastructure plans.
From Russia, with cloud
Nebius inherits Yandex’s non-Russian assets, including a Finnish data center and AI cloud platform.
The company aims to become a leading player in Europe’s AI compute market, competing against tech giants and specialized GPU-as-a-service startups.
Volozh emphasizes Nebius’s advantage: experienced engineers who have built large-scale infrastructure before and are now ready to do it again.
Global talent, European focus
Despite its Russian roots, Nebius is now a truly international company. Its workforce is spread across Amsterdam, Israel, the U.S., and Belgrade, a result of both strategic planning and geopolitical circumstances.
The company plans to expand its data center capacity in Finland and build new facilities across Europe, positioning itself as a public investment opportunity in the booming AI infrastructure sector.
