How US Sanctions Will Crimp Russia's Tech Sector

Last November, the tech giant Yandex unveiled Chervonenkis, Russia's most powerful supercomputer and the 19th most powerful commercial computer on the planet. Chervonenkis, which Yandex uses to train artificial intelligence algorithms for applications like web search and translation, was built by linking together more than 1,500 chips from the US company Nvidia. Earlier this week, Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs said that it was having trouble sourcing the home-grown chips it's required to use, and as a result was considering returning to chips made by Intel, according to CNews, a Russian outlet. Russia's reliance on Western technology, particularly for chips, is at the heart of the sanctions announced Thursday by President Biden and US allies in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Biden said in an address to the nation that restrictions on Russia's imports of key technology, including semiconductors, would squeeze its "access to finance and technology for strategic areas of its economy, and degrade its industrial capacity for years to come."