MOSCOW, Dec 29 (Reuters) – A joint venture controlled by Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin has acquired a 25% stake in IT infrastructure provider Selectel, one of the venture's partners said on Monday, as Moscow seeks to boost development of home-grown artificial intelligence models. Catalytic People, a joint venture between Potanin's holding company Interros and T-Technologies, the owner of online lender T-Bank, has purchased a 25% stake in Selectel, valued at some 16 billion roubles ($206 million), T-Technologies said in a statement. President Vladimir Putin has said home-grown AI models are vital to preserving Russian sovereignty, and has urged technology companies such as Sberbank and Yandex to catch up with U.S. and Chinese rivals. Potanin, CEO of Russian metals company Nornickel and its largest shareholder, has expanded his investments in the technology sector, acquiring a 9.95% stake in internet giant Yandex, often dubbed "Russia's Google", earlier this year. "I think that in the near future, in Norilsk Nickel, as well as in many other Russian companies, there will be a breakthrough in this area," Potanin said in a television interview that aired last week, referring to AI. Interros, Potanin's holding company, is T-Technologies' largest shareholder, with a 41% stake. T-Technologies President Stanislav Bliznyuk said the purchase would allow the company to utilise Selectel's vast cloud infrastructure in its development of AI products. Selectel's revenue for the first nine months of 2025 grew by 42% year-on-year to 13.5 billion roubles, T-Technologies said. ($1 = 77.4000 roubles) (Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Susan Fenton)
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