Amazon picks Prysmian and Rio Tinto for low-carbon cables

Amazon will use electrical cables made with low-carbon aluminum for a data center project in Ohio. The material is supplied through a partnership between Italian cable manufacturer Prysmian and miner Rio Tinto.

The cables rely on aluminum made with ELYSIS inert-anode technology. Prysmian said the process eliminates direct greenhouse-gas emissions from aluminum smelting and releases pure oxygen instead. Prysmian will manufacture the cables at its facility in Sedalia, Missouri, marking the first known use of inert-anode-smelted aluminum in a data center.

Joern Tinnemeyer, Vice President of Data Center Engineering at Amazon Web Services, linked the Ohio deployment to Amazon's broader goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions across its operations by 2040. Prysmian is aiming for net zero by 2035 and targets 55% of its revenue from sustainability-linked solutions by 2028.

The companies have not disclosed the contract value, volume figures, or expected revenue contribution for the Ohio project. Prysmian and Rio Tinto originally signed a five-year supply agreement in 2023 for aluminum made with Canadian hydropower before expanding into ELYSIS technology in March 2026. The partners have not indicated whether Amazon plans to adopt the cables at other data centers.