Russia shuts down 38 data centres due to energy crisis and lack of funds
Economic obstacles and energy shortages have forced Russia to suspend 38 data centre projects, amounting to a total investment loss of around 168.6 billion roubles (€2 billion) over the past three years. According to data from PKR and Tekhexpo, these setbacks pose a threat to the Kremlin’s objective of creating a sovereign artificial intelligence ecosystem.
Although the country has 128 projects in various planning stages, with expected investments set to reach 1 trillion roubles (€11.7 billion) by mid-2026, momentum is slowing. At present only 42 facilities, worth 282 billion roubles (€3.3 billion), are actively being built.
This decline is clearly reflected in the statistics: between May 2023 and May 2026 the volume of active construction fell by more than 41%, while the corresponding investments dropped by more than 26%. Major players such as VK, Sber, Yandex, DataPro and AFK Sistema are involved in these initiatives, but the gap between national AI ambitions and the physical infrastructure is widening.
Financial instability has particularly affected commercial providers that rent out computing power, as they are heavily dependent on external loans. Analyst Stanislav Mirin notes that, despite a recent fall in interest rates from a peak of 21% to 14.25%, borrowing is still prohibitively expensive. Since it typically takes a decade to recover the initial costs of these facilities, high interest rates render many business models unsustainable.
On top of the financial problems, there is an acute shortage of electrical infrastructure. In the Moscow region, where 75% of the country’s commercial data capacity is located, it has become almost impossible to obtain new power connections. Mirin explains that the approval process for new investors in this hub is currently gridlocked and often takes more than a year.
This energy crisis is confirmed by Rostelecom chairman Mikhail Oseyevsky, who stated that power reserves in major urban centres are almost exhausted, directly hindering the roll-out of AI technologies. The long-term outlook is equally bleak; Russia’s General Energy Development Plan suggests that the power deficit in Moscow could increase from 1.6 gigawatts in 2030 to 4.2 gigawatts in 2042.
Consequently, as Filipp Vratskikh of Tekhexpo suggests, the path towards independent AI remains uncertain, even as the government seeks to establish AI legislation.
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