Compass Datacenters and Hines have marked their entry into the European data centre market with a plan to develop one of the largest data centre campus projects in Italy.

The two firms said they have acquired a 2.3m sqft Noviglio site in Milan to build the data centre campus to support 48MW-plus of IT load. Construction of the campus is expected to begin in next year.

AJ Byers, president and chief development officer at Compass Datacenters, said: “Building our first European campus in Milan is a major step in Compass’ global expansion strategy. Its geographic location, undersea cable connectivity, robust fibre availability and affordable power make it an ideal location for hyperscalers.”

Mario Abbadessa, senior managing director and country head, Italy, at Hines, said this first investment into the Italian and European data centre market establishes a new area of development for Hines, representing significant opportunities in a high-growth sector.

“The Italian data centre market is becoming a leading destination for cloud providers with growing capacity requirements commonly referred to as hyperscalers, with $2.6bn projected to be invested by 2026,” said Abbadessa.

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