Fiber used in Ukraine's jam-proof drones now costs six to 10 times more than a year ago, as Russia and AI data centers compete for the same Chinese supply.
Ukrainian drone makers say the optical fiber they need has gotten six to 10 times more expensive between 2025 and 2026. Part of the reason is the AI data center boom, which is pulling on the same global supply of thin glass cable that carries internet traffic.
Most small attack drones are steered by radio, and radio can be jammed. Fiber-optic drones unspool a thin cable behind them, so there is no radio signal to block. Russia first used them in 2024 in Kursk Oblast. Ukraine followed quickly. Finished spools can let a drone fly dozens of miles, and up to 62 miles in extreme cases.
Both countries rely heavily on Chinese suppliers. The cable is used up in a single flight, and the two sides are estimated to build about 50,000 fiber-optic drones per month. China's customs data, as reported by The Washington Post, shows the gap in access. In August 2025, Russia received 328,000 miles of cable from China. Ukraine received 72 miles.
Russia bought more than 37 million miles of fiber in 2025, according to The Insider and Vedomosti. That is over 10 percent of all fiber made worldwide. Before, Russia had never topped 1 percent of global demand.
Data centers use huge amounts of fiber. Research firm TrendForce expects a worldwide shortfall of 111 million miles in 2026. That has pushed up prices for the bend-insensitive fiber that drone makers especially want.
Oleksiy, an R&D representative at Ukrainian maker BlueBird Tech, told Ars Technica that cost is one of the biggest limits on these drones. He said the worst stretch for prices and shortages was around March, and things have stabilized to some extent since. The core problem remains: the material mostly comes from China, so makers depend on Chinese supply, shipping and pricing.
Oleksiy said many manufacturers are moving spooling in-house. Instead of buying finished small spools, they can buy fiber on much larger spools and wind the smaller ones themselves. The interview text available here cuts off before the rest of his answer.
For everyday readers, the lesson is simple. A basic material can get scarce when several big buyers want it at once, and the effects can show up far from the tech industry.
The AI building boom is competing for basic materials like optical fiber, and that pressure can raise costs in places that have nothing to do with AI.
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