COUNTRY FOCUS : ITALY
Recent research from Colliers reported the Italian data centre market mirrors the European trend of surging demand from investors and operators seeking strategic locations . The desire for available power , low latency and connectivity are drivers in the search for success , and Italy , notably Milan , holds a pivotal European position for distributing and receiving content due to its robust connectivity and sub-marine backbone connections . Massimo Bandinelli , Marketing Manager , Aruba Cloud , explains how the region is emerging as a beacon of opportunity and discusses several factors for its meteoric rise as one of Europe ’ s newest data hubs .
Is Italy the new rising star in and data centre landscape ?
Milan skyline at sunset , with the mountain range of the Lombardy Alps in the background
The Italian cloud market is turning the heads of cloud providers all across Europe . Now worth over € 5.5 billion , the country has emerged as an increasingly popular destination to establish data centres . Infrastructure services ( IaaS ) are also contributing to this market expansion , driving growth valued at € 1.51 billion , marking a 29 % increase since 2022 , according to the Cloud Transformation Observatory .
The region has recently attracted substantial investments from leading international hyperscalers , and numbers are only expected to keep booming . According to a study by Milan Polytechnic , investments in the Italian data centre industry are projected to soar to € 15 billion by 2025 .
So , what ’ s making this area such a hot spot for investment and development ?
Overcoming FLAP-D obstacles
In recent years , the European data centre market has drifted away from the once-dominant FLAP-D region ( Frankfurt , London , Amsterdam , Paris , Dublin ), giving countries like Italy , Spain and Portugal room to shine . This shift is driven by internal factors , for example energy usage concerns in the Netherlands , leading to government-enforced permit delays on large sites .
Perched on the Mediterranean coastline , countries like Italy and Spain are also geographically strategic locations . The placement of these regions provides
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