The Italy is establishing itself as a strategic hub for digital services in Europe, thanks to a mix of unprecedented investments, technological innovation and the first steps towards an organic regulation of the data center sector.
In addition to strategic geographical position, and the market maturation and regulatory evolution to make our country increasingly attractive. According to theData Center Observatory of the Milan Polytechnic, the investments will reach the € 15 billion by 2026, with an acceleration of 10 billion between 2025 and 2026 alone. The overall value already exceeds 4 billion, with 176 active data centers (source Data Center Map) which place theItaly in fourth place in continental Europe behind Germany, France and the Netherlands (fifth if the United Kingdom is also considered).
The infrastructure network is in strong expansion, supported by one among the most advanced optical fibers, from 5G and from submarine connections with major global markets.
Milan leads, the South chases
Milan is the engine of growth of the sector, with 238 MW IT installed (+34% in one year), re-entering the European top 15 and pushing Lombardy to overtake Madrid with 318 MW. The triangle Milan–Monza–Pavia concentrates one third of the national capacity, but also Rome, Turin, Bologna and Genoa are gaining ground. At a national level, theItaly reaches 513 MW IT (+17% per year) and over 333.000 m40 of operating surface, with approximately 85 thousand employees. However, XNUMX% of the capacity remains concentrated between Milan and Rome. The Noon, despite being a landing point for international cables, struggles to intercept investments.
Data Centers: Billion-Dollar Investments for the Italian Market
The list of investments underway in Italy is long and ever-expanding. The Belpaese is establishing itself as one of the most popular destinations for the cloud giants, thanks to a rapidly expanding market and increasingly advanced internal demand.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), thanks also to the incentives of the Asset Decree, will invest 1,2 billion euros in Lombardy. Microsoft has announced a 4,3 billion euro plan to strengthen cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence solutions in the country. In addition to these, there are important operators such as Virtus Data Centers (active in Cornaredo with a 70 MW project on a former industrial area) ServiceNow e OVH cloud, which has chosen Lombardy to open a new cloud region consisting of three Availability Zones by the end of 2025. In Segrate, CyrusOne will develop a 54 MW data center, already designed for heat reuse, while in Rome, Mediterranean Data Centers, together with the DWS fund, aims to relaunch the Tier IV Cloud Europe hub, oriented towards maximum reliability and security.
On the national front, Aruba has already inaugurated the first building of its data center campus on the outskirts of Rome, which will eventually include five independent data centers. Tim has announced an investment of 130 million euros for a new center in the capital, which adds to its national network of 16 data centers, with the aim of reaching a total capacity of 125 MW.
Great anticipation surrounds the Apto project, founded by former executives of Equinix and Stack, which will be built in Lacchiarella, near Milan, one of the largest European campuses with 228.000 m300 of surface area and XNUMX MW of IT power distributed across five structures.
Among the public and academic initiatives, the inauguration of a data center powered exclusively by renewable sources at the University of Pisaa, while in Trentino the DataMine project uses an active mine to provide electromagnetic isolation and physical protection.
The Italian panorama therefore presents diversified business models. The large US hyperscalers (AWS, Microsoft, Google) are investing in proprietary infrastructures integrated with the public cloud. Other global operators such as Equinix, Colt, Stack and CyrusOne are focusing on colocation and wholesale, leaving the direct management of servers to customers. At the same time, the edge segment grows, increasingly strategic for low-latency applications, with protagonists such as Sparkle, Leonardo and some multiutilities (including Hera and IREN) engaged in new projects.
The public dimension and digital sovereignty are guaranteed by the National Strategic Pole, promoted by Tim, Leonardo, Sogei and CDP Equity, with the aim of offer a secure cloud platform for the management of critical data of the Public Administration.
Data Centers: The Global Market
The global data center market is valued approximately 300 billion dollars in 2024, and is expected to reach over 480 billion by 2029a average annual growth rate close to 10%, driven by the growing demand for cloud computing e artificial intelligence.
The United States They are the undisputed leaders, with a turnover that exceeds 123 billion dollars. An important recent investment is that of OpenAI, the company ChatGPT, which has obtained funding from 11,6 billion dollars to expand a large data center in Texas, bringing the overall value of the initiative to 15 billion. Follows the China, with a market worth approximately 96 billion, consolidating its role as a primary player in global competition.
In Europe, they stand out Germany (18,7 billion), United Kingdom (17,2 billion) e France (11,7 billion) as mature markets. Even the emerging markets attract significant capital. In Poland, ecosystem has allocated 700 million dollars to expand cloud and AI infrastructures, while Google started a project from 2 billion. The Finland hosts an investment from 1 billion by TikTok, who also announced a maxi-plan from $8,8 billion in Thailand, doubling its commitment to the region over the next five years.
In Middle East, Saudi Arabia launched the program “Human”, dedicated to artificial intelligence, with a budget of 100 billion dollars, while the United Arab Emirates collaborate with US partners to create a 5 gigawatt data center cluster, positioning itself as a new strategic hub for the sector.
Le global perspectives are characterized by structural growth, linked to the need for increasingly powerful, resilient and efficient infrastructures to support advanced digital applications, from AI content generation to hybrid cloud management. And in this competitive scenario, theItaly is the protagonist.
Towards a national law for data centers
The rapid development of data centers in Italy has made clear the urgency of a clear, homogeneous and up-to-date regulatory framework, capable of accompanying the growth of the sector and attracting investments. After years of legislative vacuum, a first official recognition arrived in January 2025, with the introduction of a new Ateco code which formally identifies data centers as strategic infrastructure distinct.
The decisive step, however, could come with a specific national law, currently being defined by Parliament. Five bipartisan proposals (Azione, Lega, Fratelli d'Italia, PD and M5S) have been reunited by the IX Commission of the Chamber in a basic text for a framework law of delegation to the GovernmentThe aim is to overcome the existing regulatory fragmentation, harmonise authorisation processes on a national scale and define common standards in the field of sustainability, energy and localization.
As it observes Sherif Rizkalla, president ofItalian Datacenter Association (IDA), the sector needs “clear rules, rapid timescales and explicit recognition by the State”, a need shared by all operators in the field.
In the meantime, some Regions have taken action. The Lombardy has approved guidelines in 2024 which distinguish five categories of data centers for absorbed electrical power: a replicable model, already used as a reference in Puglia.
At the central level, the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (Mase) published a document in August 2024 with environmental criteria to promote sustainable development of data centers: energy efficiency, priority use of renewables and reuse of abandoned industrial areas. A strategic role is also played byUmasi (Mission Unit for the Attraction and Unlocking of Investments), established at the Mimit, which has the task of facilitating and accelerating the authorization process for projects considered strategic, intervening in the event of inertia on the part of local administrations.
One of the main obstacles for operators remains the complexity of the authorization system. Long lead times, fragmentation of skills and environmental constraints are a brake on development. Regional guidelines try to simplify procedures, but a national legislation remains essential. The power thresholds of the generators affect the procedures (VIA, AIA), and even below 50 MWt the environmental constraints are often stringent. The Ateco code is a first step, but it does not yet cover crucial aspects such as the Site selection or l 'energy supply, both of which are key elements for the location and sustainability of the plants.
Another critical issue is theaccess to energy. In Ireland, data centers consume over 20% of electricity production; in Italy the impact is less, but it will be necessary to strengthen the network and invest in renewables and technologies such as modular reactors (Smr).
Finally, the law will have to balance the interests of the major global operators with the protection of the national digital ecosystem. Medium and small infrastructures, often Italian or European, are crucial to ensure sovereignty and control over data.
Technologies, sustainability and skills
The growth of the data center industry in Italy is not only measured in megawatts and operating surface, but in technological quality and capacity face increasingly complex challenges. The rise of artificial intelligence and generative models is rewriting the rules of digital infrastructure, imposing new standards in terms of power computational, energy efficiency and design. A profound rethinking of the entire technological chain: from power to cooling.
In this context, solutions such as the liquid cooling are rapidly gaining recognition for their ability to handle high thermal loads in small spaces. The global market for these technologies is expected to exceed 13 billion dollars by 2029. At the same time, the principle of “heat reuse“: the heat generated by the servers is recovered to power urban district heating networks, as in Retelit's Avalon 3 projects in Milan or in the CyrusOne plants.
Another innovative front is that of the microgrid: local networks based on renewable sources and storage systems, which offer greater autonomy and resilience. Next-generation data centers also integrate high-performance GPUs, modular architectures, free-cooling and performance goals. Pue (Power Usage Effectiveness) below 1,2 – a sharp jump from historical values above 1,5.
La sustainability is therefore now a central asset for a data center. Operators such as Aruba e Suitable They have thus invested in photovoltaic systems, storage batteries, certified renewable energy and environmental standards (LEED, ISO 50001, Carbon Trust), responding to the growing attention of institutional clients and investors.
The challenge, however, is also industrial and geopolitical. The European Commission has clearly indicated that the digital sovereignty pass by Control of critical raw materials – such as chips, GPUs and advanced materials – and the creation of a continental supply chain for design, testing and production. In this scenario, Italy can attract R&D hubs and production plants, but strategic investments and a long-term vision are needed.
In the background remain two structural nodes. The first is it territorial imbalance: 85% of the installed capacity is concentrated between Milan and Rome, while large areas of the country remain excluded from the digital transformation. The second is the lack of skills. There is a shortage of systems engineers, room technicians, cloud engineers, designers. According to the Politecnico di Milano, the demand for technical and engineering profiles far exceeds the available supply.
But something is moving: universities, companies and public administrations are launching targeted training programs. But the pace is still too slow. The expansion plan alone Amazon Web Services in Italy it provides for more than 5.500 new jobs by 2029: a concrete opportunity to relaunch qualified employment, provided that an adequate training ecosystem is built.
To transform the current expansionary phase into a stable leadership, Italy must accelerate on three fronts: technological innovation, environmental sustainability and human capital. Only in this way will it be able to claim a strategic role in the new European cloud and data economy.
