Ukraine is reportedly planning to build domestic AI computing capacity in partnership with operator Kyivstar. This move is likely a calculated bid to help strengthen the country’s critical digital infrastructure amid the ongoing war with Russia.
According to Reuters, the operator signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine’s Economy Ministry at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk, Poland. Kyivstar’s parent company Veon will provide financial backing for an initial phase CEO Oleksandr Komarov said could require between 3MW and 5MW of computing capacity and run into tens of millions of dollars.
Komarov told Reuters, “the biggest consumer of Ukrainian AI right now is the military”, adding, “you cannot run military computing somewhere outside” as “it is a matter of national security”.
Although Komarov said demand for AI computing remains relatively limited, he argued local capacity would also enable Kyivstar to serve smaller businesses that lack access to global cloud providers.
At the same event, Nvidia Central and Eastern Europe business development director Patrycja Sokalska-Pomacho reportedly said Ukraine currently lacks the computing infrastructure to retain the value of its operational, cultural and language data domestically.
Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa VP Jeff Bullwinkel apparently added Ukrainian data was transferred to data centres across Europe after the invasion to protect it from Russian strikes.
The agreement comes as Ukraine seeks to rebuild its digital sovereignty following the widespread disruption caused by Russia’s military invasion, which forced several data and digital services to move to international infrastructure.
In April, Veon and Kyivstar said they had invested $1.3 billion in the country since 2023, surpassing an earlier $1 billion commitment target. The investment funded mobile and fibre network expansion, Starlink direct-to-device (D2D) satellite connectivity, acquisitions and backup power systems to cope with disruptions.
Source: Mobile World Live
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Source: Tahawul Tech