Companies from friendly countries are interested in computing power in the Russian Federation

Russian hosting providers note a recovery in demand from foreign clients for the rental of computing power and other services. If in 2022 the main demand was from the Russian offices of foreign companies separating the business from the parent structure, now companies from friendly countries who have decided to occupy the vacated niches are showing more interest. In particular, these are Chinese automakers who rent capacity with an eye to expanding production.

Demand for the services of Russian hosting providers from foreign companies is recovering, interviewed market participants told Kommersant. According to RuVDS, in 2022, foreign clients accounted for 32% of the total number of companies and individuals using virtual computing services. Now there are 37% of them, the number of clients from the USA has decreased, and from the countries of Europe, East and Central Asia it has increased, said RuVDS CEO Nikita Tsaplin.

The 3data data center network notes an increase in requests for various services, including rental of virtual computing power and hosting, from Asian countries, in particular China: “Chinese business is actively integrating into Russian business, replacing departed Western partners. Moreover, companies usually enter the market not alone, but with partners.” In general, the provider estimates the growth in demand from foreign companies at 20–30% this year.

Another Kommersant interlocutor in the cloud provider market confirmed the trend and noted that the main demand is now observed from foreign IT companies, equipment vendors and the automotive business. In the summer, analysts estimated the overall growth in demand for website hosting, storage and data processing in the Russian Federation over the past year at 17.5% versus 6% a year earlier, while the demand for capacity in Europe fell by 5%. But the dynamics primarily reflected demand from Russian business (see Kommersant on August 14).

“Chinese automakers are working proactively, trying to rent capacity with a reserve, with an eye to expanding production,” notes the head of the Russian-Asian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Vitaly Mankevich. In his opinion, this industry will become a driver of growth in demand for computing power in Russia.

Last year, the main demand from foreign companies fell on divisions of international players that were disconnected from the main infrastructure, clarifies Sergei Zinkevich, director of the Cloud Services business unit of Croc: “The demand was for emergency data transfer from abroad and building IT infrastructure from scratch. This year it continues: about 60% of companies that have separated from international offices are migrating to Russian facilities, but as planned.”

The volume of Russian cloud services in 2022 increased by 44.1%, to 86.6 billion rubles, and we can expect continued growth by a third per year, says Sergey Pimkov, Deputy General Director for Development and Operations at Selectel. But given the current size of the market, “it’s hard to imagine that foreign participants could significantly influence it in the near future,” he said. “For this to happen,” concludes Sergei Pimkov, “the emergence and stable development of a large number of foreign companies in Russia is necessary.”

Tatiana Isakova