In H2 2024, BitRiver, a Bitcoin mining business under OFAC sanctions, plans to open Russia’s largest artificial intelligence (AI) data center.
According to Russia’s official news agency Prime, BitRiver Group subsidiary Bitriver-B plans to create the biggest data center in Eurasia for energy-intensive computing in the second half of 2024.
The Association of Industrial Mining’s director, Sergey Bezdelov, stated that the data center is anticipated to have a capacity of 100 megawatts. As said by Sergey Bezdelov:
“This is the largest facility among all data centers in the Republic of Buryatia and the Far Eastern Federal District. As of today, BitRiver’s investments in the project exceed 1.4 billion rubles [~$15.1 million].”
The report highlights that BitRiver intends to finalize the execution of the investment project in Russia, notwithstanding the company’s inclusion on the sanctions list maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Bezdelov emphasized the potential expansion of energy-intensive and high-performance computing in Russia, especially with the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Additionally, he predicted that the industry would need several tens of gigawatts by 2035. High-performance, energy-intensive calculations, including cloud services, AI operations, and cryptocurrency mining, are anticipated to be the center of attention for the data center.
In an attempt to cut Russia off from the international banking system, the U.S. government placed BitRiver and several of its subsidiaries on its sanctions list in April 2022 for their activities in the Russian economy’s technology sector.
In a news release, the U.S. Treasury stated that cryptocurrency mining firms assist Russia in making money off of its natural resources and that the country has a “comparative advantage in crypto mining due to energy resources and a cold climate.”
