Intel's Research and Development (R&D) center in Nizhny Novgorod operated from 2000 to 2022 and was the largest Intel office in Russia. It housed laboratories and teams working on cross-platform software and artificial intelligence solutions.[1]

History and Activities

The center was founded in 2000. According to Gleb Nikitin, Nizhny Novgorod programmers worked in graphics, image recognition, and 3D modeling.[1] By 2020, when the center celebrated its twentieth anniversary, it employed around a thousand Nizhny Novgorod IT specialists.[1] According to TAdviser, in 2017 the center had at least 700 programmers.[2]

In the anniversary year of 2020, a new office building was ceremonially inaugurated in the presence of Governor Nikitin, who called the Nizhny Novgorod R&D center one of the largest in the world. The regional head also highlighted Intel's educational programs and the corporation's collaboration with universities in the Region.[1] Intel acquired the building at 30 Turgenev Street in 2007; it had been constructed in 1996 as offices for the Petrovsky Plant and has nine above-ground and two underground floors with a total area of approximately 13,500 sq. m.[4][5]

Nizhny Novgorod was no accident as the site for the largest foreign R&D center in Russia: since the Soviet era, the city had built up a powerful engineering and programming tradition, encompassing specialists in defense software, mathematical libraries, and firmware for telecommunications equipment.[3]

Closure and Aftermath

In April 2022, Intel suspended its operations in Russia. The computer science teacher training program in Nizhny Novgorod Region was frozen, and around 930 employees were placed on indefinite leave. In August 2022, it became known that the corporation planned to relocate approximately 500 specialists to Germany and other countries.[1] In 2022, the combined losses of Intel's two Russian legal entities ("Intel A/O" and "Intel Technologies") exceeded three billion rubles; by the end of 2023, each had recorded zero revenue and net losses of 192 million and 21 million rubles respectively. By the end of 2023, two employees remained in Russian Intel — one for each legal entity.[5]

Former employees of the center went on to found a significant number of IT companies registered in Nizhny Novgorod Region after 2022. Several dozen systems developers joined the staff of the Russian company Cloud.[1]

Fate of the Building

In January 2024, the sale of the building was finalized: the buyer was the Nizhny Novgorod Region Development Corporation, established by the regional government. According to Kommersant (Privolzhye), the transaction was non-market in nature and favorable to the buyer. The building is located near the historic center of the city — at Sennaya Square, 30 Turgenev Street.[4]

The building's profile is expected to be retained: the Development Corporation intends to house IT companies there. Part of the space — approximately 2,700 sq. m — is designated for Sber's "School 21", while a further roughly 7,000 sq. m will be occupied by a Sberbank IT hub. The plot of land behind the building may be allocated for new construction.[5]

Sources

  1. cnews.ru — Intel sold its office in Nizhny Novgorod. It was the largest research center in Russia (archive)
  2. tadviser.ru — Intel Research and Development Centers in Russia (archive)
  3. vilianov.com — How Intel came to Nizhny Novgorod and changed it forever (archive)
  4. Kommersant (Privolzhye) — Nizhny Novgorod Region Development Corporation purchased the former Intel building (archive)
  5. kod.ru — Intel in Russia: the sale of its largest office and a year of zero revenue (archive)