Russian Yandex seeks to expand its reach in Türkiye

ISTANBUL

Russian multinational tech firm Yandex plans to invest $400 million in Türkiye to localize its information technology products, expand its reach in the country, construct more infrastructure and accelerate development in the field.

Türkiye is among the top 10 countries with the highest internet usage, Yandex Search Türkiye CEO Alexander Popovskiy told state-run Anadolu Agency, and with the firm’s investments, he said the personal data stored by the search engine will stay within Türkiye.

Popovskiy highlighted that Yandex’s focus on the Turkish market is to provide more benefits in accordance with the needs of its users in the region, and he notes that their products will be designed and developed with that consideration.

He announced that a new search engine powered by artificial intelligence (AI) will be specifically developed for the Turkish market to enhance the efficiency in searches in the next few months.

Popovskiy said Yandex is working on joint projects with Turkish tech firms and startups, with the platform’s digital advertising products contributing to the growth of some local businesses, in addition to the other services Yandex offers, such as its own Cloud, Weather and Maps apps, with some 40 Turkish startups already using the services for free.

Popovskiy mentioned that the $400 million investment in Türkiye will support the development of digital advertising, machine learning, high-capacity systems and AI.

He noted that the long-term plan with the investment is to remain a business partner to Türkiye, continue to offer more advanced tech solutions and develop the already existing ones Yandex offers in the region.