Data4 to build a new 100 MW data centre campus in Italy
The new campus of Data4, a French operator and investor in the data centre market, will be located in Vittuone near Milan. Earlier this year, Data4 Group announced a €1 billion investment plan to strengthen its presence in Italy. As part of this investment, the company has earmarked €500 million for the acquisition of a plot of land of more than 77,000 sq m and the development of a new campus, where the first infrastructure will be built by 2027. The group intends to develop its large-scale digital campuses in Western and Central and Eastern Europe according to its investment plan, which will also include €500 million earmarked for investment in Poland.
The €500 million investment is part of the Group's expansion project, which aims to strengthen its presence and competitiveness in the Italian market by redeveloping former industrial areas to support the country's digitalisation. The company intends to offer its customers access to a European network of ultra-connected infrastructure through six campuses. Among the most powerful data centres in Europe, they are located in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland and Luxembourg.
The construction of physical infrastructure is the foundation of digitalisation. Data centres that store a digital platform containing sensitive data of citizens, banks, institutions and companies. This is an activity that affects the local economy on many levels and for which demand is steadily growing - also in Poland. Forecasts indicate that the limit of 500 MW of Polish data centre capacity will be exceeded as early as 2030.
Construction of the first 15 MW data centre at the new MIL02 campus is expected to be finalised in early 2027. Once completed, Data4 will be able to create synergies between its locations through direct connectivity between the two campuses. Ultimately, 4 data centres with a total capacity of 100 MW will be deployed at the Vittuone location. Upon completion of this investment, Data4 will have 18 data centres in Italy, spread over 28 hectares of land, with a total capacity of around 300 MW.
"In order to develop our digital infrastructure in Italy, Data4 is to invest €1 billion between 2023 and 2029. The Group's action is geared towards the launch of additional data centres and innovative projects to reduce the environmental impact of our operations. With this strategic investment, Data4 confirms its position among Italian and European data centre leaders. With the purchase of the land in Vittuone, we are pursuing the objective of an ever-greater presence on Italian territory, responding to the growing demand for data centres, driven by the acceleration of the country's digitalisation. In the context of the ever-increasing demand for digital services, investing in infrastructure such as data centres becomes strategic to support the digital transformation and actively contribute to the economic development of the country, as well as businesses and local communities," stressed Davide Suppia, general manager and vice president of sales of Data4 in Italy, member of the board of the IDA (Italian Datacenter Association).
"The new investment fulfils our ambition to become the leading pan-European data centre operator. It also strengthens our presence in northern Italy. Having transformed the former Italtel industrial site in Cornaredo into a data centre campus, the construction of MIL02 Vittuone underlines our commitment to the region and our desire to continue investing and collaborating with the local ecosystem," added Greg McCulloch, Chief Development Officer at Data4 Group.
Vittuone MIL02 campus: sustainability at the heart of construction and operational management
To achieve more responsible digital development, Data4 is working on sustainable designs and solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of data centres. The Vittuone campus will be 50-60% built on brownfield sites. Already during construction, low-carbon concrete will be used, which will allow a significant reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the traditional component. Such a solution has previously been applied to the Cornaredo campus, built on the former and now revitalised Italtel site, as well as in Poland.
Furthermore, in the area of energy use, Data4 will implement the latest and most innovative solutions at the Vittuone campus. 100% of the demand will be covered by renewable energy sources and, in addition, the Group will create an Energy Efficiency Hub. Thanks to artificial intelligence, the best solutions will be analysed there. Using information on CO2 emissions from the environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) of the infrastructure on campus, it will be possible to implement more efficient and sustainable data centre cooling systems.
Data4's investments in Poland
The expansion of the company's investments in Poland is also underway. Data4's first Polish campus is located in Jawczyce near Warsaw, on a plot of 4 hectares. The investment will ultimately comprise four facilities with a total power allocation of 60 MW. The first data centre with a capacity of 8 MW was officially opened in May last year and occupies over 2,200 m2. The construction of the second facility is at an advanced stage, which will enable the expansion of the offer to customers. It is scheduled for commissioning at the end of 2024. The Warsaw campus will be connected by fibre-optic telecommunications links to the networks available in Warsaw, in order to provide access to a large number of telecommunications operators and full replicability of the processes and solutions implemented at Data4's other campuses across Europe.
With a total funding of €2.2 billion obtained last October and investments raised, the Data4 Group manages six of the most powerful data centre campuses in Europe.
