Russia has suspended construction of 38 data center projects worth a combined 168.6 billion rubles ($2.26 billion) over the past three years, highlighting mounting challenges for an industry the government sees as critical to the development of domestic artificial intelligence.
The projects were halted amid high borrowing costs and growing shortages of electricity capacity, according to a study by consulting firm Tekhexpo and research group PKR reviewed by Forbes.
Russia currently has 128 data center projects in various stages of development with planned investments totaling about 1 trillion rubles ($13.4 billion) as of June 2026, the study found. Of those, 42 projects worth 282 billion rubles ($3.78 billion) are under active construction.
Major projects include facilities being developed by technology and state-backed companies including Yandex, Sber, DataPro, AFK Sistema and VK.
The slowdown underscores the growing tension between Russia's ambitions to build domestic AI capabilities and the infrastructure constraints facing the country's technology sector. Industry executives warn that rising financing costs and limited access to power are making many projects economically unviable, potentially undermining efforts to develop independent AI systems.
