Digital Realty lands in Italia, 2 billion on data centres

Double strategic acquisition to accelerate growth in Italia with an investment plan worth EUR 2 billion for Digital Realty - a US giant of carrier-neutral, colocation and interconnection data centre solutions, listed in New York - which has announced its entry into the Milan market (after the one, in August, on the Roman 'piazza').

The investment in Milan 'is not an isolated operation,' Alessandro Talotta,executive managing director of Digital Realty told Il Sole 24Ore, 'but part of a strategy that sees Italia at the centre of the infrastructure network of Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. Investments have already been grounded in Spain (Madrid and Barcelona), France (Paris and Marseille), and Greece (Athens and Heraklion, in Crete). The aim is to create a digital axis linking strategic hubs such as Athens, Marseille and Sofia, integrating with the projects underway in Barcelona and Crete. In this scenario, Italia becomes the natural bridge to the markets of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, offering the necessary support to the exponential growth of Cloud and Artificial Intelligence. Not least because today, the 18 submarine cable landing systems coming from Africa to Sicily divert to Marseille'.

Digital Realty has finalised the acquisition of two plots of land in Abbiategrasso, south-west of Milan, just one kilometre apart. Strategically located along the submarine link corridor, which connects Milan to Genoa and Savona, the site will provide access to a diverse and resilient terrestrial fibre-optic infrastructure network.

The project will start with a first 8 megawatt phase, mainly dedicated to retail colocation and interconnection services. Operation is planned for 2028. But this is only the beginning: in order to meet the ever-increasing demand for large enterprise projects, expansion of the main site has already been planned, which will reach a total capacity of 84 megawatts.

"With this operation," added Paula Cogan, managing director Emea of Digital Realty, "we are providing the strategic infrastructure to consolidate Milan as a digital hub of reference. The expansion into Milan complements the ROM1 project, less than 15 kilometres from the coast in the Trigoria area, which will offer over 3 megawatts of installed IT capacity in its initial phase. The site covers an area of 22 hectares - approximately 220,000 square metres - and envisages subsequent development phases. Currently under construction and ready to debut in early 2027. "On the energy front," Talotta further explains, "we focus on green energy. 30-40% of our investments are dedicated to new areas of renewable plants'.