Sourced fact
The News
Turkey has launched its national artificial intelligence (AI) platform EVREN, which is part of Turkey's ambitious plan to develop its AI capabilities. According to Anadolu Agency, EVREN is not just an AI platform but a comprehensive effort to build AI infrastructure within Turkey.
The platform integrates various stages of AI development into a shared infrastructure, from data preparation and classification to model training and deployment of vision and language applications. It currently offers access to 11 open-source large language models, allowing users to earn points they can use to train models and analyze data on the platform's robust infrastructure.
EVREN uses 64 Nvidia H200 graphics processing units (GPUs), providing a computational capacity of 47.5 petaflops. This is highlighted as a critical technical and geopolitical resource due to American export restrictions on such technology.
Turkey aims through EVREN to achieve data and computing sovereignty, where user data is processed on strong centralized infrastructure within Turkey. According to the national AI strategy, Turkey seeks to invest up to $10 billion in AI by 2030 and develop a workforce of 10,000 advanced AI specialists and 100,000 AI application specialists.
Turkey also noted that it does not need to compete with major companies like OpenAI in general AI, but can focus on areas such as defense AI, autonomous systems, and agricultural technologies, where it has a competitive advantage. Turkey's strategic location between Europe and Asia could turn it into a digital infrastructure hub between the two continents.
Analysis & context
Analysis & Context
From an analytical perspective, EVREN is part of Turkey's broader AI strategy, which aims to achieve sovereignty in this field. Turkey seeks to build strong AI infrastructure and develop local capabilities in areas such as AI for local languages and defense systems. This transformation reflects the importance of data and computing sovereignty in the digital age. In a broader context, Turkey could become a link between Europe and Asia in AI and computing, leveraging its geographical location and energy resources.
