Sanctions Accelerated Russia’s Data Center Growth
As global tech companies pulled out of Russia, the country turned adversity into opportunity—building a sovereign, high-capacity data center network that underpins national AI development and digital autonomy.
Demand Grows, Infrastructure Expands
Russia’s data center market continues to expand despite geopolitical and hardware supply challenges. In 2022, server rack capacity increased by 10.8%. By early 2025, the country had 194 operational data centers with a combined capacity of 3.6 GW, according to IPG.Estate.
Moscow accounts for 76% of data processing capacity with 53,400 rack units. St. Petersburg follows with 9.3%, and other regions make up 14.8%. The expansion of data infrastructure is central to Russia’s digital sovereignty strategy, particularly as AI development requires large-scale computational power.
State Strategy and Regional Development
The Data Economy and Digital Transformation project (2025–2030) will invest over 1 trillion rubles in new infrastructure. An additional 420 billion rubles will come from private sources. The initiative includes the creation of national standards, data protection protocols, and AI-powered analytics based on Russian software.
New data centers are emerging outside Moscow. Rostelecom’s RTK-DC opened a 401-rack site in the Nizhny Novgorod region, months ahead of schedule. Yandex is building a 3,800-rack, 63 MW facility in Kaluga. Wildberries is developing centers in Dubna and Naro-Fominsk. Key Point Group plans a 1,650-rack, 20 MW center in St. Petersburg in 2025.
Commercial Demand and Sectoral Impact
As companies shift to cloud-based services, the need for third-party data storage continues to rise. Shared data centers help reduce operating costs, free up internal resources, and increase IT agility.
AI-driven diagnostics in oil and gas, predictive digital twins for manufacturing, and automated transport systems rely on robust data infrastructure. Russia currently ranks third among BRICS, CIS, and partner countries in readiness for automated transport—just behind China and the UAE.
Russia’s pivot from imported hardware has stimulated local innovation and increased market competitiveness. As domestic solutions mature, the country is poised to remain a global leader in scalable, secure data infrastructure.
