"Yandex" May Be Left Without Data Centers For Years
- 11.10.2026, 10:25
The consequences of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' strikes turned out to be more severe than the sanctions.
The Russian IT monopoly “Yandex” is likely to face major challenges in restoring its data centers, which were damaged during the war. Repairs will take at least a year, even under the most optimistic estimates. This was reported by the Russian channel “Vremya Goszakupok,” according to Dialog.UA.
The website claims that Yandex’s problem is much more serious than the sanctions. A global memory shortage on the world market will hinder the restoration of the destroyed platforms. Russia simply won’t be able to purchase the necessary high-tech equipment: demand far exceeds supply.
For example, Micron Technology, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of semiconductor memory, has already sold virtually all of its production for 2027. Negotiations with customers are currently underway regarding shipments for 2028.
Samsung, the world’s leading chip manufacturer, is also fully booked with orders for next year. Chinese manufacturers are stifled by sanctions and unable to ensure a stable supply.
“The expansion of data centers in Russia is being held back not by a shortage of resources, money, or sanctions, but by waiting lists for memory and chips,” the publication noted.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has attacked a third major Yandex data center. On October 8, drones destroyed the facility in Sasovo; on October 9, one in Kaluga; and last night, one in Vladimir.
The most painful loss for the tech giant is Sasovo. That facility housed two of the company’s three supercomputers, which were used to train YandexGPT and neural networks. Currently, the IT monopoly has only one functioning major data center left, located in Mytishchi (near Moscow). It has taken on the bulk of the load from the other facilities. And, by all accounts, it is struggling to cope.
Russians are complaining en masse about problems with the company’s key services. Cloudflare Data Explorer also reports a 49% drop in traffic from Kremlin bots. In light of these events, Yandex has disclaimed liability to its customers for failure to fulfill its obligations in the event of drone attacks or shelling. The company urgently amended its terms of service to include a clause on “force majeure.”