Sber intends to use Chinese processors for the operation of the GigaChat AI model. This was stated on "Channel One" by the head of the bank, German Gref, during Vladimir Putin's visit to Beijing. Western sanctions block the supply of advanced AI equipment to Russia.
The most likely candidate is Huawei's Ascend 950 chips, which are already in huge demand in China. ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent are competing for limited production volumes. ByteDance alone ordered $5.6 billion worth of chips earlier this year. Huawei plans to release 750,000 processors in 2026, but the yield of usable products remains low.
In March, Sber launched "GigaChat Ultra" and expanded the lineup with "GigaChat 2.0" and "GigaChat Max" models. Their large-scale deployment requires enormous computing power. The bank's existing infrastructure is built on a mix of Western and Chinese chips, and Russian counterparts do not yet provide competitive performance.
In January, Sber acquired a 41.9% stake in the microelectronics manufacturer "Element" for 27 billion rubles, but its products are focused on defense and industry, not AI accelerators. It is still unclear whether the agreements between the leaders of Russia and China will lead to actual deliveries.
