French company Data4 intends to invest in Greece to establish a significant AI data center hub near Athens, marking a major enhancement to the country’s digital infrastructure and economy, it was announced this week.
The company said it plans to invest nearly 300 million euros ($331 million) in developing a new data center hub in Paiania, an area just outside the Greek capital, Athens.
Bloomberg reported that Olivier Micheli, the CEO of Data4, said the firm is currently in negotiations with existing lenders and local Greek banks to fund the project. Micheli said that the new site would be a “significant contribution to the local economy and digital ecosystem.”
The company manages multiple data centers in six European countries (including Greece) and has a €7 billion investment target for expansion by 2030. It can develop two additional centers in its forthcoming Greek hub for an additional €200 million.
Data Centres in Greece
Data centers are used to store, process, and share large amounts of data with users while cloud computing refers to the provision of computing resources via the Internet (e.g. servers, apps) through the use of central systems located far out of reach of the final user. Automated processes enable systems to reach users in order to provide a variety of services and connection flexibility.
Microsoft submitted its €1 billion investment plan in Greece in 2020. The Microsoft project which will be built at Spata, eastern Attica envisions the development of three new data centers to be built near Athens International Airport.
Due to the notorious Greek bureaucracy, it took four years to get the first construction permit for the main building of its first data center in Greece.
The relevant building permits are expected to be issued in the near future and the construction of the first of three Microsoft data centers will begin at Spata.
The eventual arrival of the Data Center, one of the first in Europe, means that Greece will have access to Microsoft’s cloud network, as well as faster and more efficient computing and digital services.
In December 2023 the global technology giant Google announced it amplifying its footprint in Greece through a substantial investment in the establishment of data centers.
A data center hub in Southeast Europe
Greece is poised to become the largest data hub in Southeast Europe, and the second largest in the Mediterranean, over the next five years, boosted by the addition of half a dozen new data centers and subsea cables that will transform the country into a digital gateway on the world’s information superhighway.
A recent report by market research firm Arizton says that Greece’s data center market will grow at a cumulative average growth rate of almost 9 percent through 2028, to more than 150 MW of power capacity. In addition, at least six new high-speed telecommunications cables − two already in the works, one recently completed, and three more being planned – are also slated to link Greece with Asia, Europe and Africa.
“The market is witnessing significant investments due to the increasing adoption of cloud services, the advent of AI/ML technologies, and government support for data center development,” says the Arizton report.
