Russian top tech and internet company 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 Anadolu Agency (AA) on Wednesday. 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 that align with the needs of its users in the region as he noted that its products will be designed and developed with that consideration.

He said that over the first three years, Yandex would focus on creating hundreds of new jobs in the digital sector in Türkiye while accelerating the development, localization and dissemination of its technologies.

He announced that a new search engine powered by artificial intelligence will be specifically developed for the Turkish market to enhance the efficiency of searches in the upcoming period.

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.

He added that the efforts to develop these services will continue as Turkish businesses benefit from these B2B (business-to-business) solutions.

Popovskiy mentioned that the $400 million investment in Türkiye will support the development of digital advertising, machine learning, high-capacity systems and AI – directly contributing to Türkiye’s digital economy with solutions specifically tailored to the region.

When it comes to AI, Popovskiy said that Yandex develops "hyperlocal" products in that their technologies incorporate the language and the cultural dynamics within to better serve the country and its people according to their needs and specifics.

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.