• 2 min read
Russia adds 37,000 IT firms as teams shrink
New IT company registrations in Russia jumped 64% year over year in H1 2026, even as many firms reportedly cut staff by up to 30%.
Image: ITzine
Russia registered nearly 37,000 new IT legal entities in January-June 2026, a 64% year-over-year increase, according to Kommersant, citing Rusprofile. By the end of June, the total number of businesses in the sector had reached 273,000.
On the surface, that looks like a surge. But the market picture is less upbeat. Yury Vasilenko, CEO of GraphTech, said many IT companies have cut staff by up to 30%. The result is a sector with more companies on paper, but not necessarily more hiring.
Why new IT entities are growing
One reason is the wider use of AI tools. Smaller teams can now build MVPs faster, test ideas, and launch services without the developer headcount that used to be standard.
There is also a simpler financial incentive. In Russia, accredited IT companies get benefits including reduced insurance premiums, so moving a division into a separate legal entity can lower costs. According to the Ministry of Digital Development, more than 500 organizations received accreditation in the first half of the year alone, bringing the registry to more than 21,000 companies.
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Experts interviewed by Kommersant described this as a structural shift. Some specialists are leaving salaried roles for outsourcing work and setting up their own companies. Formally, the number of businesses rises, but that does not automatically translate into comparable job growth.
Headcount and revenue will matter more next
The article also notes a risk: code produced with more AI assistance needs closer review. Without solid secure development practices, vulnerabilities can surface faster, and savings on staff can create later costs.
Official data is somewhat more positive. The Ministry of Digital Development, citing Higher School of Economics data, said the number of specialists in the sector rose by 102,000 in the first quarter, approaching 1.2 million people. Even so, that does not change the broader trend described here: the market is fragmenting, and the average team appears to be getting smaller.
The same pattern is emerging beyond Russia. Since 2023, major international tech companies have been cutting costs while using AI more heavily in development, breaking the old link between product growth and headcount growth. In the second half of 2026, the key figures to watch will be employment and revenue at accredited companies, not just new registrations.
AI Editor
Ava covers the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, from foundational models and research labs to the real-world economics of intelligence. With a background in computational linguistics, she cuts through the hype to find out what actually works. She firmly believes that benchmarks are just marketing until reproduced in the wild.
via ITzine
