Russia's AI and Big Data Market Grew 20% to 528 Billion Rubles

Structural constraints are also holding back the segment's development:

• a shortage of quality data for training models;

• a deficit of machine learning specialists;

• insufficient computing capacity.

All three factors were named in the Big Data Association's study among the main barriers to further scaling of AI technologies in the Russian economy.

What's Next for AI Search?

A separate segment — search based on artificial intelligence — shows even more ambitious forecasts. It was previously reported that the AI search market in Russia could grow by at least 33% by the end of 2026. This means that even amid an overall slowdown, certain areas within AI will maintain double-digit growth rates.

What It Means for Business

For B2B players, the takeaways from the study boil down to the following. The window of "quick" AI projects with immediate returns is essentially closed. Going forward, competition will center on access to data, talent, and computing power — in other words, on long-term investments rather than one-off implementations.

At the same time, the market itself continues to grow faster than the IT industry: 20% versus 10% at the end of 2025. For platform vendors, infrastructure providers, and integrators, this is a signal: demand is shifting from pilots to scaling — along with rising requirements for customers' budgets and competencies.

The figure of 528 billion rubles marks the moment when big data and AI stopped being an experimental line item and became a measurable sector of the Russian digital economy. The question for the coming years is not whether the market will grow, but how quickly it will overcome its infrastructure and talent constraints.