July 19, 2024 – According to a report by the Financial Times on the 17th, Arkady Volozh, the co-founder of Russian technology giant Yandex, is launching a new AI company in Europe, primarily composed of former Yandex employees.
Volozh will helm this new venture, named Nebius, which focuses on AI infrastructure. Currently, Nebius boasts approximately 1300 employees, with a significant portion hailing from Yandex. Specifically, Nebius’s core business revolves around developing a cloud computing platform tailored to support startups in training and running large-scale AI models.

Volozh revealed that Nebius has already forged partnerships with some of the most prominent AI startups in France and Germany. He further mentioned that 500 engineers at Nebius are dedicated to developing “specialized cloud infrastructure.” Drawing from his experience at Yandex, Volozh stated, “We have engineers who built large-scale technical infrastructure at Yandex… We know how to accomplish these tasks efficiently.” He added, “We understand how to interconnect with supercomputers and how to establish genuinely large clusters.”
Furthermore, Nebius claims to have a “long-standing and solid partnership” with NVIDIA, ensuring the procurement of powerful new processors during surges in demand.
Previously, it was reported that an agreement to split Yandex’s assets was finalized on Monday. A consortium of Russian investors acquired most of Yandex’s business for approximately $54 billion in cash and stock.
Yandex, often dubbed the “Google of Russia,” emerged during the internet boom of the late 1990s and is listed on NASDAQ. Its diverse business portfolio spans search and advertising, ride-hailing services, e-commerce, and various other online offerings.