Low-carbon aluminium cable made with ELYSIS inert-anode metal has been contracted for installation in an Amazon data centre near Columbus, Ohio. Prysmian will manufacture the electrical cable in Sedalia, Missouri, using aluminium supplied by Rio Tinto and distribute it through Wesco.
> Key takeaways > > – Prysmian calls this the first known use of inert-anode-smelted aluminium in a data centre. > – Rio Tinto says the aluminium was produced in Quebec with hydropower, including metal made through ELYSIS technology. > – ELYSIS replaces carbon anodes in smelting, eliminating direct greenhouse-gas emissions from that process and producing oxygen instead. > – The September 18 contract turns a March 2026 materials partnership into a named deployment for Amazon.
Low-carbon aluminium cable: what Amazon contracted
The September 18 announcement is more specific than Prysmian and Rio Tinto’s March collaboration. It identifies an end customer, a data-centre location, a cable factory and a distributor: Amazon near Columbus, Prysmian in Sedalia and Wesco on delivery.
Reuters independently confirmed the deployment and described it as the first known data-centre use of inert-anode-smelted aluminium. Alliance News separately reported that the cable will be installed inside an Amazon data centre in Ohio and that production uses ELYSIS metal from Quebec.
The consequence is concrete: low-carbon aluminium cable moves emissions reduction from a data centre’s electricity supply into its physical build. The project does not make the facility carbon-free, but it shows that procurement can target embodied emissions in ordinary infrastructure such as power wiring.
Why the smelting step matters
Conventional aluminium smelting uses carbon anodes that are consumed during electrolysis, creating carbon dioxide. ELYSIS uses inert anodes and says the direct by-product is oxygen instead. Rio Tinto’s release adds that the project’s aluminium supply was produced with Quebec hydropower.
That is a narrow claim, not a full lifecycle verdict. Mining, refining, transport, cable manufacturing, construction and the data centre’s later electricity use still have environmental impacts. The credible measure of the project is therefore the emissions avoided at the smelting stage and the amount of qualifying metal delivered, not a broad “zero-carbon cable” label.
| Supply-chain stage | Disclosed role | Climate claim |
|---|---|---|
| Rio Tinto / Quebec | Supplies aluminium made with hydropower, including ELYSIS metal | Lower-carbon input; no direct smelting GHGs for ELYSIS metal |
| Prysmian / Sedalia | Manufactures electrical cables | Converts the metal into data-centre wiring |
| Wesco | Distributes and delivers cable | Connects factory output to project site |
| Amazon / Ohio | Installs cable in data-centre infrastructure | Extends procurement into embodied materials |
From demonstration to procurement
The most important change from March is purchase specificity. The earlier partnership introduced ELYSIS aluminium into building wire; the new disclosure says those cables are contracted for a real Amazon site. That gives the material a customer, installation context and route to market.
The deployment also sits inside a wider effort to reduce the physical footprint of AI and cloud infrastructure. Lapaas Voice recently covered Google’s green-steel certificates for the Stegra plant and STL’s dense fibre trunks for AI data centres. Together, these moves show hyperscalers pushing requirements down into steel, aluminium, cable and connectivity suppliers.
FAQs
Where will the low-carbon aluminium cable be used?
Prysmian says the cables are contracted for installation in an Amazon data centre near Columbus, Ohio.
What makes the aluminium lower carbon?
Rio Tinto says the supply was produced in Quebec using hydropower and includes metal made with ELYSIS inert-anode technology, which eliminates direct greenhouse-gas emissions from the smelting process and produces oxygen.
Is the Amazon data centre now carbon-free?
No. The announcement covers a specific cable material and its smelting process. It does not provide a full lifecycle assessment for the cable or the entire data centre.
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