Russia's procurement of fiber optics from China surged in 2025, with Chinese manufacturers hiking prices for Russian buyers by 2.5 to 4 times, the Vedomosti newspaper reported on Thursday, February 26. According to Chun Shen, an analyst at the Fiber Optic Cable Research Center of the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Russia's total consumption reached nearly 60 million kilometers of fiber last year.
Domestic production in Russia has effectively ceased. The country's sole manufacturing facility, JSC Optic Fiber Systems in Saransk, halted operations following a series of Ukrainian drone strikes in April and May 2025, according to Leonid Konik, Director General of ComNews Group. Consequently, Russia is now entirely dependent on Chinese suppliers, who account for over 60% of global production.
This sharp spike in demand has driven prices significantly higher. The G.652D fiber, a standard for telecommunications cables, was priced at 16 yuan per kilometer in early 2025; by January 2026, the price had climbed to 40 yuan.
Drones and Data Centers
Military applications are the primary driver behind the surge in demand. In 2025, both Russia and Ukraine began extensively equipping FPV drones with fiber-optic controls, making these UAVs harder to detect and immune to electronic warfare jamming. Additional demand has been generated by data center operators supporting artificial intelligence workloads.
In the fall of 2025, The Washington Post reported that Chinese companies had simultaneously increased deliveries of lithium-ion batteries to Russian drone manufacturers. Alternative fiber optic suppliers, such as the United States and Japan, remain inaccessible to Russia due to international sanctions.