INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY

DATA CENTRES

Digital Realty’ s expansion into Milan strengthens its leadership in digital infrastructure across the Mediterranean and Southern Europe, connecting key hubs in Athens, Marseille and Sofia, with new sites underway in Barcelona, Crete and other key markets. Positioned at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, this region is emerging as a vital digital interconnection point, and Digital Realty remains committed to delivering the digital infrastructure needed to support the growth in Digital Transformation, cloud and AI throughout Southern Europe and beyond.

Digital Realty has acquired two parcels of land strategically located in

Abbiategrasso, southwest of Milan’ s city centre and just one kilometre apart. The new campus to be developed will sit at a critical nexus, positioned on the southwest subsea traffic corridor that connects Milan to Genoa and Savona and will offer access to dense, diverse terrestrial fibre routes across the region.

The Milan campus will be designed to foster a new, vibrant interconnection and content community, strengthening diversity and resilience within the local digital ecosystem. Located in close proximity to two existing hyperscale regions, the campus will be wellpositioned to facilitate future expansion, driven by the fast-growing demand for cloud and AI services. This is expected to ensure long-term capacity and resilience for digital services in Northern Italy and beyond.

" We’ re excited to enter Milan, Italy’ s business capital with a dynamic tech ecosystem," said Paula Cogan, Managing Director, EMEA, Digital Realty.

" By expanding into Milan, we are providing much-needed infrastructure to support the city’ s growth as a digital hub, fostering new content, interconnection and cloud communities while assuring long-term capacity for AI and hyperscale deployments."

Digital Realty plans to initially deliver an 8-megawatt( MW) facility, bringing scalable colocation services and improved interconnection options to Milan’ s fast-growing digital marketplace. The first phase is targeted for readiness in 2028, focusing on retail colocation and interconnection requirements.

To meet ongoing demand for AI, cloud and other enterprise deployments, Digital Realty plans further expansion on the larger plot, enabling up to 84 MW of capacity.

Digital Realty’ s expansion into Milan complements its existing presence in Rome, where the company is currently constructing its first facility in this metro, ROM1 – expected to become operational in early 2027.

When fully built out, Digital Realty’ s Rome campus will become one of the largest data centre campuses in the country, further reinforcing Digital Realty’ s commitment to supporting Italy’ s Digital Transformation at both regional and national levels.

With plans underway in Milan and a forthcoming presence in Rome, Digital Realty is positioned to become the only global data centre platform with a footprint in Italy’ s two most important connectivity hubs, uniquely positioned to support growing demand across the country. •

32

INTELLIGENT CIO EUROPE www. intelligentcio. com