Ukrainian drones strike Russia's largest data center, planned site of major AI supercomputer
Ukrainian drones struck Russia's largest data center, operated by state-controlled Sberbank, on October 14, in the latest in a series of attacks on infrastructure supporting the country's artificial intelligence industry, Reuters reported.
The facility in Balakovo, Saratov Oblast, was expected to house Russia's most powerful supercomputer, scheduled to begin operating in 2027, according to a 2024 report by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Sberbank First Deputy CEO Alexander Vedyakhin confirmed the attack but said the bank's operations had not been disrupted.
“We confirm that the data processing centre was attacked. At the same time, all of Sberbank's systems and services are operating normally and without disruption,” he told reporters.
Russian outlet The Moscow Times reported widespread user complaints about disruptions affecting banking, telecommunications and online services, including Sberbank's GigaChat AI platform. The extent to which those outages were connected to the drone strike remains unclear.
The attack followed three strikes over the past week on data centers operated by Russian technology company Yandex. Those facilities housed all three of Yandex's operational supercomputers, according to Reuters.
Neither Sberbank nor Yandex has confirmed whether any supercomputers were damaged.
Why the data centers matter
Sberbank and Yandex are Russia's leading developers of artificial intelligence models, competing through their GigaChat and YandexGPT platforms.
Training advanced AI models requires powerful computing infrastructure, including specialized graphics processing units (GPUs). Western sanctions have made it increasingly difficult and expensive for Russian companies to obtain such equipment.
IT expert Mikhail Klimarev told Reuters that replacing damaged chips could take considerable time because of restrictions on access to advanced hardware.
The Balakovo facility is located near a nuclear power plant and a hydroelectric station. Neither energy facility was reported damaged in the attack.
The strikes come amid Russia's continued attacks on Ukrainian digital infrastructure, including a September strike on a Kyiv data center that disrupted several Ukrainian media services.