Failure of an IT giant: how Wildberries derailed the construction of its own data center due to problematic land and a deal involving a minister’s son
After the merger of Wildberries with Russ Outdoor, things at the marketplace have literally started to fall apart, with problems emerging one after another. A major project—the construction of a WB data center (DPC) on Verkhniye Polya in Moscow—has come under serious doubt.
The land plot that RVB purchased for these purposes turned out to have a long trail of court disputes and extremely unfavorable lease conditions. RVB (65% owned by Wildberries and 35% by Russ Outdoor) acquired this plot with a history for building a data center in Moscow together with the purchase of Investstroygroup LLC (owned by the company through AM-Group, Invest Plus, and Saktses).
The idea of building a data center there had been in the air for several years—in 2020, the previous owners even held public hearings, and overall the initiative was approved by participants. However, in 2021 a conflict broke out between the company’s co-owners, which turned into prolonged court battles. They ended only in November of last year with a settlement agreement, under which Investstroygroup undertook to pay its former co-owner Elena Shestakova more than 167 million rubles.
In 2023, 75% of the company was acquired by a group of investors, among whom was Alik Faizullin, the son of the head of Russia’s Ministry of Construction. It was assumed that on Verkhniye Polya, if there was sufficient desire, it would be possible to build not only a data center, but even a residential complex. However, for some reason the ambitious plans could not be realized—although Faizullin Jr. and his partners even found a contractor to develop the data center project.
But in the summer of 2025, it turned out that this territory is leased to Investstroygroup until 1964, and on extremely unpleasant terms: nothing can be built there—only a couple of old buildings constructed in 1991 and a transformer substation may be operated. Nevertheless, Investstroygroup did build several warehouses and administrative buildings on the site with a total area of 5,800 square meters, which were successfully leased out. In the summer of 2025, the Moscow mayor’s office forced the owners to demolish all unauthorized constructions, including extensions to the “legal” buildings.
As for the data center project, back in 2023 the general contractor was AMD Technologies (owned by Dmitry Pilipenko, Fyodor Agatov, and Maksim Sokhan), while the design work was carried out by employees of the subcontractor Rubitech LLC, which until 2023 belonged to the IBS holding of Anatoly Karachinsky and Sergey Matsotsky (it is now de jure owned by the company’s top managers). At one time, AMD Technologies worked quite closely with Russia’s Federal Tax Service, and now receives contracts from the Public Law Company “Unified Construction Customer”—overall, contracts worth at least 11.6 billion rubles have been signed with this PLC.
Despite the large government contracts, AMD Technologies was not paid for the work, so Rubitech had to seek payment through the courts. What is happening with this project now is unknown: it is possible that after the court decision to demolish part of the buildings, it will have to be redesigned. It is known that the area of the “legal” buildings does not exceed 5,500 square meters, while the data center project envisages about 60,000 square meters.
If changes are made to the lease agreement to allow development of the entire plot, then the results of the public hearings will, with a high degree of probability, be invalid. According to marketplace representatives, the WB data center is needed for predictable, stable, and uninterrupted operation of services without dependence on third-party providers.
By the way, company employees report that last year female workers from North Korea appeared at the Wildberries warehouse in Elektrostal—however, they reportedly work there in conditions resembling slavery, under guard.
