Russia’s largest IT companies fear being left unable to operate as a result of severe equipment shortages sparked by Western sanctions, media outlet Kommersant reported Monday.
Russian social media platform Vkontakte (VK) and tech giant Yandex have both reported difficulties sourcing new equipment, particularly computer servers.
VK has called on Russia’s Digital Development Ministry for help purchasing “tens of thousands of servers,” essential for the company’s continued operations, Kommersant reported.
Key vendors of Russian computer parts including Hewlett Packard, Dell and IBM, have suspended their operations within the country following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24.
In a statement, Russia’s Digital Development Ministry claimed that they were “seeing few disruptions” due to sanctions.
“[The Ministry] is taking measures to provide the public sector and commercial companies with a sufficient amount of Russian computer equipment that meets the highest requirements," it said.
Analysts told Kommersant that Russia still had some available processors produced by domestic tech company Baikal Electronics.
But Maxim Koposov, director of Russian computer equipment manufacturer Promobit, warned the newspaper that even these stocks were beginning to run low.
“We took the path of manufacturing servers with Russian processors, but they are also tight right now,” he said.
