Andrea Innocenti The Italian digital ecosystem is experiencing unprecedented expansion. According to the latest figures, 262 data centers operate nationwide with a total capacity of 760 megawatts, a figure that still leaves Italy lagging behind industry giants like the United States, which boasts more than 5,000 facilities and exceeds 40 gigawatts of installed capacity.
Germany has 580, France 401, but Italy's geographical position and its network of undersea cables make it a strategic hub for investors.
Current map of data centers in Italy
The data center is a building dedicated to data storage and processing, continuously powered by large amounts of electricity and equipped with advanced cooling systems.
Currently, 70% of installed capacity is concentrated in Lombardy, especially in the Milan area, due to its proximity to a large number of end users. Other regions remain underserved, but the government has already launched a plan to distribute future projects in Southern Italy as well, leveraging abandoned industrial areas and renewable sources.
Investments coming soon and international players
The Committee for the Attraction of Foreign Investment (CAIE) has announced over €25 billion earmarked for new data centers for the three-year period 2026-2028, three times the amount allocated for the period 2023-2025. Of these, seven projects, totaling €26,9 billion, have received the strategic approval that speeds up bureaucratic procedures. Among the players involved are cloud giants such as Amazon Web Services, Equinix, Microsoft, OpenAI, and the Swiss company Energy Vault, the latter with a €1,5 billion project in the former Monte Sinni mine in Sardinia.
The crucial role of GPUs and Nvidia
When it comes to data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence , the most expensive component is GPUs (graphics processing units). A McKinsey estimate indicates that, of an average investment of $2,8 billion, approximately $1,6 billion goes to these chips, with Nvidia holding the largest share, followed by AMD and Google's internal projects. The remaining costs are distributed across electrical systems, cooling, network infrastructure, and manufacturing.
Political, environmental and social implications
The data center boom is closely tied to energy policy and governance issues. In the United States, the recent Nasdaq crash, driven by fears of new AI restrictions and potential limits on data center construction, has highlighted how legislative decisions can directly impact investment. In Italy, authorities are trying to balance growth with local concerns: communities are demanding compensation for energy use, noise management, and environmental protection. The Ida association estimates that the new facilities could generate approximately 26,000 full-time jobs, but several protests have already called for greater guarantees.
Another source of tension is dependence on energy supplies. Terna reports that, at the end of August, requests for grid connections for new data centers exceeded 100 gigawatts, with nearly half of the requests concentrated in Lombardy. The national strategy aims to leverage renewable energy in the South, but implementation will require significant time and investment to upgrade transmission infrastructure.
The Italian data center landscape is set to undergo a radical transformation by 2030. Investments, estimated between €20 and €25 billion, will be driven by demand for GPU capacity for AI, large companies' desire to position themselves near key network nodes, and a growing focus on environmental and social issues. Those who succeed in combining these factors will reap the greatest benefits from one of the most significant transformations of our decade.