Russia May Build Europe’s Largest Data Center

ER-Telecom Holding plans to build what could become Europe’s largest data center in the coming years in the city of Perm. Company President Andrey Kuzyaev announced the project at an economic congress held at Perm State National Research University.

Kuzyaev said the facility will follow a modular design, with each of the ten modules located in a separate standalone building. The projected capacity of the data center is 8,320 racks for active and cross-connect equipment.

Growth in the Data Center Market

According to iKS-Consulting, about 194 data centers were operating in Russia as of 2025. More than 80 percent of racks are concentrated in Moscow and the surrounding region, with 7 percent in St. Petersburg. Another 8 percent are located in regional hubs including Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan and Samara. Analysts report that commercial data center construction capacity in Russia has nearly doubled over the past five years. In 2026, St. Petersburg plans to launch the second phase of a data center that will match the specifications of the facility operating since 2020.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko instructed the Ministry of Digital Development and the Analytical Center under the Government of Russia to prepare proposals by March 2026 for creating a digital platform to support data center development. The platform is expected to include information spanning the full lifecycle of data centers, from construction to commissioning, and to compile data on available computing capacity across Russia.