Russian Business Bets Big on AI
AI agents, machine learning, generative AI, and LLMs are set to dominate investment priorities for large Russian companies over the next two years. That’s according to a new study by enterprise software vendor VK Tech and research agency MARC.
A total of 154 large companies across industries, including manufacturing, retail, and development, took part in the survey. Some 74% said they plan to invest in AI solutions over the next two years, while 71% will increase funding for data offices as early as this year. According to VK Tech and MARC, businesses today primarily use AI to improve operational efficiency, analytics, marketing, and personalization. But the shift is clear – AI is no longer just a tool for solving narrow tasks. It is evolving into a core layer of corporate management systems.
Demand Shifts Toward End-to-End Solutions
Priorities are moving toward AI agents, generative models, and large language models. To use them effectively, companies need unified digital platforms, tools for managing data quality, and secure computing environments. In practice, that means demand will grow for turnkey platform solutions rather than fragmented tools that are difficult to integrate within a single data office.
“For businesses, this is a way to contain scaling costs, reduce infrastructure complexity, and improve data quality for both analytics and AI use cases,” says Ekaterina Kanunnikova, Product Director for Data Services at VK Tech.
For consumers, the widespread rollout of integrated AI solutions is likely to translate into faster service, better customer experiences, and improved quality in certain goods. At the same time, the acceleration of digital transformation in the real economy is boosting domestic demand for infrastructure products developed in Russia. That, in turn, is keeping the IT sector busy and driving sustained growth.
Infrastructure Spending Becomes Unavoidable
Unlocking AI’s full potential requires serious infrastructure investment. Companies need object storage systems, integration buses linking ERP and CRM platforms, cryptographic protection tools, data labeling and cleansing solutions, MLOps pipelines, and more.
Data security is just as critical. Against this backdrop, customers are likely to favor integrated stacks from a single vendor capable of covering the full cycle – from data ingestion and storage to training, inference, and protection. Here, business and government priorities align. The national AI development strategy through 2030 and the Data Economy national project are both creating incentives to invest in computing capacity and trusted domestic platforms.
AI Strategy Moves Into Focus
According to Strategy Partners, Russia’s generative AI market grew fivefold in 2025. Large-scale adoption helped companies increase output by nearly 20%, improve productivity, and optimize resources by around 15%. Yet only one in four of the 97% of large companies that had implemented AI actually had a formal AI strategy in place.
That is now changing. VK Tech and MARC data suggest companies are shifting toward a more structured approach, treating AI as a capital-intensive infrastructure category rather than a standalone experiment.
Full-Stack Competition Heats Up
In the medium term, demand is likely to consolidate. Companies will move away from standalone AI tools and toward integrated platform solutions with predictable deployment economics. Vendors are already responding to this shift. In early 2026, VK Tech strengthened its data business by integrating Cedrus Data and carving out a dedicated AI solutions vertical for enterprise clients. Competition to become a full-cycle provider – spanning storage, computing, AI services, and cybersecurity – is set to intensify alongside demand.
The year 2026 is shaping up as a turning point, marking the transition from fragmented AI experiments to system-wide digital transformation across the real economy. If current trends hold, Russia could emerge as one of the most mature enterprise AI markets in the EAEU.
