Ukrainian Drones Strike Russia's Largest Data Center in Attack on AI Ambitions

The attack on the data center in Balakovo, owned by Russia’s largest bank and technology company Sberbank, followed three attacks on Yandex’s data centers within the past week. The data center is reportedly Russia’s largest supercomputer hub, set to go online in 2027. The supercomputers at Yandex’s data centers were also targeted in the previous attacks. The Sberbank has not confirmed whether the supercomputers were damaged in the Ukrainian attacks, which are used for training AI models. Both Sberbank and Yandex have invested heavily in developing their AI models, but lag behind global leaders in the US and China due to Western sanctions limiting access to modern hardware.