Prysmian, Rio Tinto Supply Low-Carbon Cables for Amazon Ohio Data Center

Italian cable manufacturer Prysmian has partnered with mining giant Rio Tinto to supply low-carbon aluminium electrical cables for an Amazon data center in Ohio, marking a new step toward reducing emissions from data center infrastructure.

The cables will be manufactured using aluminium produced with ELYSIS inert-anode technology. According to Prysmian, the innovative smelting process eliminates direct greenhouse gas emissions traditionally associated with aluminium production and releases pure oxygen instead.

Prysmian said the Amazon project represents the first known use of aluminium produced through inert-anode smelting technology in a data center. The initiative demonstrates how companies can lower the carbon footprint of data centers by addressing emissions associated with raw materials used in construction and electrical infrastructure.

The cables will be produced at Prysmian’s manufacturing facility in Sedalia, Missouri, before being supplied for the Amazon data center project in Ohio.

The initiative expands on a collaboration between Prysmian and Rio Tinto announced in March 2026. Their partnership focuses on incorporating lower-carbon materials into cable manufacturing as technology companies and infrastructure operators seek to reduce emissions throughout their supply chains.

Demand for data center infrastructure has accelerated alongside the rapid expansion of cloud computing and artificial intelligence, increasing attention on the energy and materials required to build and operate large-scale facilities. Using lower-emission aluminium could help address some of the embodied carbon associated with data center construction.

Joern Tinnemeyer, Vice President of Data Center Engineering at Amazon Web Services, linked the low-carbon cable initiative to Amazon’s broader sustainability strategy and its goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.

The project brings together Prysmian’s cable manufacturing expertise, Rio Tinto’s lower-carbon aluminium technology and Amazon Web Services’ expanding data center operations. It also highlights growing efforts across the technology supply chain to reduce emissions beyond electricity consumption by targeting the materials used to build critical digital infrastructure.