Russia Orders Data Centers to Reserve 10% of Capacity for Whitelist

The ministry is reportedly preparing official clarifications stating that operators freeing up space in this way will be acting under force majeure.

Who is covered

The requirement applies only to commercial data centers, meaning those owned by specialist operators that earn money by renting out capacity. Corporate facilities used for a company's own needs, such as those of banks, are exempt. Where a data center is only partly used to provide services, the reserve is based on that share of resources. A subsidiary's site serving its parent group under contracts is to be treated as commercial.

According to a meeting participant, the reserve can be calculated across all of an operator's sites together, so 10% need not be set aside at each one, and the operator picks the specific facility. The calculation is to count rooms with powered rack spaces and resources on the balance sheet. Compute capacity for infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) is also included. The ministry distinguishes IT capacity from grid connection capacity: the former is the basis, while the latter, accounting for engineering infrastructure consumption, is used for verification.

Impact on the market

Experts say that if the reserve is permanently withheld from sale, maintaining the current volume of services will require additional data center construction. With payback periods of 7–8 years, some projects could see their launch dates pushed back without support measures.