1/ The AI boom is leading to drastically higher prices and possible shortages of the Chinese-made fibre-optic cables used by many Russian kamikaze drones. Prices have nearly quadrupled due to a massive increase in demand for fibre optics by data centres. ⬇️ 
2/ According to Russian media reports, Russian buyers are having to pay between 2.5 to 4 times more for fibre optic cable per kilometre than last year. By 2025, Russia was purchasing about 10.5% of all fibre optic cable produced globally – equivalent to 60 million kilometres.
3/ Russia is entirely dependent on Chinese fibre optic manufacturers. Its only domestic fibre optic manufacturer, JSC Optic Fiber Systems in Saransk, was destroyed by Ukrainian drone strikes in April-May 2025.
4/ The price charged to Russian customers per kilometre has risen from 177.92 rubles per in early 2025 to 278 rubles per km by the end of 2025, and now stands at 445 rubles per km as of the end of January 2026. A 50 km spool thus now costs about $289.
5/ The surge in costs is attributed to shortages of raw materials and an explosion of demand for cabling in new data centres being built to power AI systems. A single AI data center being built by Meta in Louisiana, for instance, will use 13 million km of cable.
6/ Russian military and telecoms needs are seen by Chinese manufacturers as a lower priority than the much more lucrative data centre market. Russian sources have expressed fears that they will face significant shortages of cables through to at least 2027. /end
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