Russia pitches cheap energy as a draw for U.S. data centers

Russia can be the right destination for American data centers, a high-ranking member of President Putin’s administration is now suggesting.

The offer comes against the backdrop of figures showing that such facilities, often used by Russian companies for cryptocurrency mining, are growing in capacity.

Moscow courting Washington with another business proposal

With its cheaply priced energy, the Russian Federation could be the “perfect place” for the United States and other nations to set up their data centers, a top representative of the Kremlin has been quoted as stating.

The idea comes from Boris Titov, who is Vladimir Putin’s “special presidential envoy for relations with international organizations to achieve sustainable development goals.”

“Technology is advancing these days. And, of course, Americans are building a huge number of data centers now. Major American companies are doing so,” the Russian official told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.

Quoted by the official TASS news agency on Friday, he elaborated further:

That means running data centers in the country is very profitable, Titov emphasized. “And not just for the Americans. It could be for the Chinese, too, or perhaps for other companies from other countries,” he added.

The president’s aide admitted, however, that for all this to work, trust must be established first, as well as the proper investment climate. Nevertheless, “this is a potentially profitable area of cooperation,” stressed the Russian envoy.

If bilateral relations between the RF and the U.S. improve, “the abolition of the broad interpretation of sanctions by companies will be the first step,” Titov is convinced.

When that happens, businesses will start communicating, and then restrictions on financial settlements may be lifted, he predicted, highlighting that the latter are currently the main obstacle.

This isn’t Russia’s first lure for America

Moscow and Washington have been engaged in a difficult dialogue to end the war in Ukraine since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House a year ago. Officials in both capitals have commented on potential business opportunities that can be realized for the mutual benefit, once the bitter conflict is resolved.

The proposals range from the possible cooperation in areas such as energy exploration and exploitation to reviving decades-old ideas that never materialized. Last October, another Putin aide, his special envoy for economic cooperation with other nations, Kirill Dmitriev, suggested boring an underwater tunnel under the Bering Strait to boost economic ties.

Dmitriev, who is also involved in the Ukraine talks, referred to a similar project, dating back to the Cold War era, to build a “Peace Bridge” between the U.S. State of Alaska and Chukotka in Russia’s Far East.

In late December, Putin himself unveiled that Russia and the United States were discussing the option to jointly run the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in occupied Eastern Ukraine.

Quoted by the business daily Kommersant, the president reportedly said the American side was interested in using electricity generated by the largest NPP in Europe for crypto mining operations. Meanwhile, another report by TASS revealed earlier this week that the total capacity of Russian mining farms and data processing centers, also often used to mint digital coins, has reached 4 GW in 2025.

That is over 33% higher than the figure from the previous year, according to Russia’s System Operator of the Unified Power System (SO UPS). The state-owned entity, which manages the vast country’s massive power distribution network, highlighted that the energy-intensive computing facilities now account for roughly 2% of the nation’s gross electricity consumption.

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