Image credit: The Byteline

Russia’s Sberbank is moving forward with plans to collaborate with Chinese researchers on artificial intelligence, aligning itself with China’s DeepSeek, the AI disruptor that has stunned global markets by developing powerful models at a fraction of the cost of U.S. rivals.

Sberbank’s First Deputy CEO Alexander Vedyakhin confirmed the partnership in an interview with Reuters, though he did not disclose which Chinese institutions or researchers would be involved.

The move comes as Moscow and Beijing strengthen their AI alliance, deepening a technology partnership that Washington views as a growing geopolitical threat.

Russia and China’s Growing AI Ties

The alliance between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping is built on a shared vision of challenging Western dominance in AI, quantum computing, and military technology.

With sanctions limiting Russia’s access to Western computing hardware, cooperation with China has become increasingly strategic.

"China is a partner of Russia on many issues of the international agenda, and the level of scientific cooperation between our countries can be strengthened through collaboration between our scientists," Vedyakhin said.

Sberbank, once a bureaucratic Soviet-era state bank, has evolved under CEO German Gref into one of Russia’s leading players in AI. In 2023, it launched GigaChat, its answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and has since made several AI platforms publicly accessible.

DeepSeek’s Disruption and Sberbank’s Strategy

China’s DeepSeek, a Hangzhou-based startup, sent shockwaves through global markets last month as investors bet that its low-cost AI models could threaten U.S. tech giants like Nvidia.

Sberbank has been closely analyzing DeepSeek’s breakthroughs. According to Vedyakhin, DeepSeek’s engineering innovations challenge the assumption that only billion-dollar investments in AI infrastructure—such as Trump’s Stargate megaproject—can produce cutting-edge results.

"DeepSeek has proven that even with reduced capabilities, it is possible to achieve quality on par with American models. This raises questions about the necessity of extreme investments when there are engineering innovations," Vedyakhin said.

Sberbank has already compared DeepSeek’s models to its own GigaChat MAX, concluding that while DeepSeek outperforms in scientific applications, Sberbank’s AI remains superior in banking-related tasks.

Russia’s AI Challenges and Global AI Race

Despite its ambitions, Russia remains far behind the U.S. and China in AI development. According to the Global AI Index by UK-based Tortoise Media, Russia ranks 31st out of 83 countries—trailing not only the world’s AI leaders but also fellow BRICS nations India and Brazil.

Putin has ordered Sberbank to strengthen AI cooperation within BRICS and other allied nations as part of a broader push to counterbalance U.S. dominance in AI technology. However, with sanctions limiting access to cutting-edge Western chips and infrastructure, Russia faces significant hurdles in developing domestic AI capabilities.

Vedyakhin emphasized that openness and accessibility have been key to DeepSeek’s rapid success—a strategy that Sberbank is also adopting. The bank has made AI platforms such as its text-to-image model Kandinsky and GigaChat Lite widely available.

"The success of DeepSeek is largely due to its transparency, which contrasts with the secrecy of OpenAI. This has attracted a huge community," Vedyakhin said.

As Russia and China accelerate their AI collaboration, their growing influence in the field is expected to further heighten tensions with the West, which already views the two nations as its biggest technological and geopolitical challengers.

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