According to reports, preferential loan and leasing programs for the purchase of artificial intelligence system equipment may appear in Russia”Kommersant“Refer to sources.” Industry insiders say these plans are in response to a shortage of artificial intelligence accelerators-the equipment that makes up the majority of capital expenditures.
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State and business representatives are discussing preferential loan and leasing programs for servers and graphics processors – a meeting of the Artificial Intelligence Technology Development and Implementation Working Group was held on September 10. This measure will help reduce the capital cost of creating computing infrastructure and provide more customers and AI developers with the opportunity to use it. Today the key interest rate of the Russian Central Bank is 14%; within two to four years of the contract, prices may increase by 15% to 25%, so the subsidy mechanism will directly lower the threshold for entry into artificial intelligence infrastructure. The move is likely to follow schemes that have proven effective in other industries and involve the state compensating banks or leasing companies for the difference between market rates and prime rates.
Support measures for the recently passed “Law on Supporting the Development of Artificial Intelligence Technology” (243-FZ) are being discussed within the working group – the total national support for the artificial intelligence industry will be approximately 71.7 billion. In addition to preferential loans and leases, these will include subsidies for the construction and modernization of data processing centers, preferential rents, and a “collective access” scheme for data centers. Specific indicators of preferential loans and leases have not yet been discussed; the issue of localization requirements cannot be ruled out, although Russia has not yet mass-produced AI accelerators comparable to those in the world. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko’s office said it was discussing financial and non-financial measures to support artificial intelligence in Russia with companies.
Recall experts interviewed by Kommersant said that there is no uniform standard for preferential rates in Russia, and that their value depends on the project, the category of recipients, the source of the equipment, the timing of financing and the amount of investment. But support in the field is market-related; China has similar plans, without which only the largest players will be able to enter the AI market. The Russian registry contains servers, but training artificial intelligence requires a more advanced solution, and there is no similar solution in the country.
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