Italy AI Data Center Market Size, Share & Forecast to 2035

The Italy AI Data Center Market is valued at USD 698.87 million in 2026 and is projected to reach USD 3.18 billion by 2035, up from USD 538.04 million in 2025, a CAGR of 19.43% from 2025 to 2035 (DC Market Insights estimate). The bottleneck in Italy is the grid queue, not demand: Terna, the national transmission operator, counted more than 50 GW of data center connection requests from over 300 projects by 30 June 2025, against an installed national base of roughly 600-760 MW of IT load (Source: Terna; Politecnico di Milano and the Italian Datacenter Association, as reported). Since February 2026 the “Decreto Bollette”, converted by Law 49 of 10 April 2026, gives data centers a single permit procedure, and the Council of Ministers has declared seven data center programmes worth over EUR 25 billion of national strategic interest, so the projects that win grid slots in Lombardy and Piedmont decide where AI halls rise first (Source: Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, July 2026; Council of Ministers, August 2026). Counted here is what Italian operators pay for the artificial intelligence (AI) hall itself (power, cooling, shell, fit-out, racks, in-hall network cabling and the services that keep it running), with graphics processing unit (GPU) servers left out. In 2025 that came to USD 481.80 million for 33.00 MW of new AI halls (30% of the 110 MW Italy completed, at USD 14.60 million per MW), USD 37.60 million for converting 8 MW of older halls at USD 4.70 million per MW, and USD 18.64 million of services across 54.81 MW already running. Services grow fastest, at 38.24% a year, and Sardinia’s 30 MW Sulcis Edge AI campus makes the Islands the fastest-growing region at 28.00% a year.

Key Market Statistics: How Big Is the Italy AI Data Center Market in 2026?

DC Market Insights values the Italy AI Data Center Market at USD 698.87 million in 2026, 29.89% above 2025. New AI IT capacity rises from 33.00 MW to 41.25 MW in the year.

• Market size 2025: USD 538.04 million
• Market size 2026: USD 698.87 million
• Market size 2030: USD 2.06 billion
• Market size 2035: USD 3.18 billion
• CAGR 2025-2035: 19.43% (low case 15.27%, high case 22.11%)
• Largest component: Electrical Infrastructure, 33.68% of 2025 spend (USD 181.23 million)
• Fastest cooling approach: Immersion Cooling, 28.00% a year; Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling grows 27.37% a year to USD 1.87 billion
• Leading region: North-West Italy, 70.00% of 2025 spend; fastest-growing region: the Islands, 28.00% a year
• Largest city: Milan Metropolitan City, USD 215.21 million in 2025
• Largest buyer group: Hyperscale Cloud Regions, 46% of 2025 spend, led by Microsoft (DC Market Insights estimate)

Key Takeaways: Three Facts for Anyone Planning AI Capacity in Italy

DC Market Insights draws three takeaways from a market that grows from USD 538.04 million in 2025 to USD 3.18 billion in 2035.

• Grid slots decide the map: Terna’s queue passed 50 GW in June 2025, but its reported outlook sees only 1.5-3 GW connected by 2030, 3-6% of the requests, so projects with a grid date win the AI tenants.
• An Italian AI hall costs USD 14.60 million per MW of IT load before servers in 2025, because liquid cooling and heavier power trains add about USD 4.30 million to a conventional megawatt (DC Market Insights estimate).
• Electricity is the running cost to beat: at EUR 0.2203 per kWh excluding VAT in the second half of 2025, one AI megawatt at a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.3 costs about EUR 2.51 million a year to run.

Italy AI Data Center Market Summary: What Did Italy Spend on AI Halls in 2025?

Italy spent USD 538.04 million on AI data center facility infrastructure in 2025. The Italy AI Data Center Market size was valued at USD 24.92 million in 2020, reached USD 538.04 million in 2025, and is anticipated to reach USD 3.18 billion by 2035, at a CAGR of 19.43% during the forecast period. From 2020 to 2025 the market grew 84.86% a year from a very small base, as the AI share of new Italian capacity rose from 4% to 30% and the first GPU-dense halls opened at Ferrera Erbognone, Bologna and Ponte San Pietro.

Report attribute	Details
Historical period	2020-2024
Base year	2025
Forecast period	2026-2035
Market size 2025	USD 538.04 million
Market size 2026	USD 698.87 million
CAGR 2025-2035	19.43%
Market size 2035	USD 3.18 billion
Segments covered	Component, Buyer, Cooling Approach, Workload
Regions covered	North-West, North-East, Centre, South, Islands; 12 provinces and cities

Growth runs at 25-38% a year from 2026 to 2030 as the strategic campuses in the Milan area and at Trino energise their first halls, then slows to 8.57% by 2035 when annual AI completions level off near 148 MW and services carry more of the total. DC Market Insights estimates that Italy holds about 10% of European AI data center facility spend in 2025; the wider picture is in the Europe AI Data Center Market report.

What Is the Italy AI Data Center Market, and What Does It Leave Out?

The Italy AI Data Center Market measures USD 538.04 million of 2025 spend on the physical and operating layer of AI-dense halls in Italy, counted where the hall is built.

Included

• Electrical infrastructure for AI halls: medium-voltage intake, transformers, switchgear, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, busways and rack power distribution.
• Cooling for racks above about 30 kW: chillers and dry coolers, coolant distribution units (CDUs), rear-door heat exchangers, direct-to-chip loops and immersion tanks.
• Building shell, fit-out and racks, including fire protection and security inside the AI hall.
• The AI network fabric inside the hall: cabling, optical patching and cable trays for GPU clusters (switches excluded).
• Retrofits that convert existing Milan, Rome and Turin halls to AI densities, and operations services and software (maintenance, monitoring, data center infrastructure management (DCIM) and energy reporting).

Excluded

• GPU servers, accelerators, storage and network switches; land; electricity bills; colocation rent; GPU cloud revenue.
• Grid works owned by Terna or distribution companies, and conventional (non-AI) halls, which sit in the Italy Data Center Market.
• Small edge nodes below about 2 MW without AI racks, covered in the Italy Edge Data Center Market.

How the segments fit together

Each of the four dimensions splits the same total of USD 538.04 million in 2025 and USD 3.18 billion in 2035.

Why Do Italy AI Data Center Market Estimates Differ?

Estimates differ mainly because of what is counted: DC Market Insights puts the 2026 market at USD 698.87 million for facility infrastructure only.

Broader definitions add the GPU servers inside the halls, which can cost two to three times the facility per megawatt, and some add software markets that searchers group with this one, such as AI data management, cloud AI services, the software-defined data center and artificial neural network software. These are services and software sold to any user, not infrastructure built in Italian data centers, so this estimate leaves them out. Searchers also group the deep learning market, the distributed edge cloud market and the hyper-converged infrastructure market with this one: deep learning is the workload these halls run, distributed edge cloud nodes below 2 MW sit in the edge market, and hyper-converged infrastructure is server and storage hardware, so none of the three is counted in the USD 538.04 million of 2025. The same holds for the data resiliency and data science platform markets, which are software; prefabricated modular data center units, by contrast, are counted when they house AI racks in Italy. Small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) are in scope when they buy or rent AI racks in an Italian hall, through the Telecom and Enterprise AI buyer group.

Element	In this estimate	Why
Power, cooling, shell and racks of AI halls	Yes, USD 496.30 million in 2025	Built in Italy for AI loads
AI network fabric (cabling)	Yes, USD 23.10 million in 2025	Part of the hall build
Operations services and software	Yes, USD 18.64 million in 2025	Recurring spend on installed AI MW
GPU servers and accelerators	No	Hardware markets, often imported
AI data management and cloud AI software	No	Software, not facilities
Electricity and colocation rent	No	Operating costs and revenue, not capex

Market Drivers: What Is Pushing AI Data Center Investment into Italy in 2026?

Spending rises 29.89% in 2026 because hyperscale commitments, sovereign compute and new permit rules land in the same two years.

Microsoft’s EUR 4.3 billion and AWS’s EUR 1.2 billion fill Lombardy with AI regions

Microsoft announced on 2 October 2024 a EUR 4.3 billion programme over two years for hyperscale cloud and AI data center capacity in its Italy North region, which it says will become one of its largest in Europe (Source: Microsoft). Amazon Web Services (AWS) added more than EUR 1.2 billion to 2029 for its Milan region, approved by the government as strategic infrastructure on 29 November 2024 (Source: Amazon). DC Market Insights estimates that these two buyers alone account for about 30% of the USD 698.87 million spent in 2026, which is why Hyperscale Cloud Regions hold 46% of spend.

Sovereign compute: Bologna’s EuroHPC AI Factory, Eni’s supercomputers and the EUR 1 billion AI fund

The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC) signed the contract for the system of Italy’s AI Factory (IT4LIA) on 22 April 2026: a EUR 290 million liquid-cooled machine of more than 160 exaflops of AI inference, built on Blackwell chips from NVIDIA Corporation (NVIDIA) and hosted by CINECA (Consorzio Interuniversitario, Italy’s university supercomputing consortium) at the DAMA Tecnopolo in Bologna (Source: EuroHPC). Eni’s sixth and seventh High Performance Computing systems (HPC6 and HPC7) at Ferrera Erbognone together passed 1 exaflop in June 2026 with about 27,800 GPUs, and Law 132/2025 allows up to EUR 1 billion of equity investment in AI through CDP Venture Capital (Source: Eni; Department for Digital Transformation). These projects give Sovereign HPC and Public Research USD 80.71 million of 2025 spend, 15% of the total.

A single permit for data centers since February 2026

The Decreto Bollette of 20 February 2026, converted by Law 49 of 10 April 2026, created one authorisation procedure for building and running data centers, with regions deciding projects from 50 MW and the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE) from 300 MW; MASE published its first operating guidance on 22 July 2026 (Source: MASE). DC Market Insights expects the rule to cut 6-12 months from campus schedules, which moves part of the 2028 pipeline into 2027 and explains the 38.35% jump in 2027 spend.

Market Trends: Which Design Shifts Are Reshaping Italian AI Halls?

Designs are moving to liquid cooling: Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling grows from USD 166.79 million in 2025 to USD 1.87 billion in 2035.

Hyperscale campuses of 300-400 MW move outside Milan’s ring road

The campus of K2 Strategic Infrastructure (K2) at Zibido San Giacomo and Lacchiarella (about 400 MW, EUR 5.3 billion), the Cavour Hyperscale Campus at the former Galileo Ferraris power plant in Trino (300-400 MW, about EUR 4 billion) and EdgeConneX’s three Lombardy campuses (over 300 MW by 2031, EUR 3 billion) are all sited where grid capacity can be assembled, not in the city (Source: Council of Ministers releases, May-August 2026). DC Market Insights models Lodi province growing 28.00% a year as the fourth campus of the government-listed MPX4 programme is built at Tavazzano.

Liquid cooling removes 96% of the heat at Eni’s Green Data Center

Eni reports that HPC6, with 13,888 AMD MI250X GPUs, uses direct liquid cooling that removes 96% of the heat at the server (Source: Eni, November 2024). The same design logic now shapes colocation halls in Milan, so Air-Cooled up to 30 kW per Rack falls from 38% of spend in 2025 to 13% in 2035 (DC Market Insights estimate).

Waste heat and energy reporting enter AI hall designs

Article 16 of Legislative Decree 131/2024 makes every data center with 500 kW or more of installed IT power publish energy performance data, including PUE, water usage effectiveness (WUE) and renewable energy factor, to the European database (Source: MASE). Metering and DCIM software help Operations Services and Software grow from USD 18.64 million to USD 474.88 million by 2035.

Market Challenges and Restraints: Why Can Only a Fraction of Italy’s Data Center Queue Be Built?

Two limits hold the market below the high case of USD 3.96 billion in 2035: grid connection and the price of power.

Terna’s connection queue passed 50 GW against a 1.5-3 GW buildable outlook

Terna counted about 30 GW of data center requests at 31 December 2024, 24 times the 2021 level, and more than 50 GW from over 300 projects at 30 June 2025, most of them in Lombardy and many above 100 MW each (Source: Terna). Terna’s own outlook, as reported in October 2026, sees only about 1.5-3 GW connected by 2030. DC Market Insights models 875 MW of new national IT capacity in 2026-2030; at a PUE of 1.3 that draws about 1.14 GW, inside Terna’s range.

Italian electricity costs about 20% more than the EU average

Eurostat puts Italy’s price for non-household users consuming 500-2,000 MWh a year at EUR 0.2203 per kWh excluding VAT in the second half of 2025, against an EU average of EUR 0.1837 (Source: Eurostat). For a 10 MW AI hall at PUE 1.3 that is about EUR 25.1 million a year, EUR 4.2 million more than at the EU average.

Market Opportunities: Which Italian AI Data Center Jobs Are Open to Suppliers?

Suppliers can win about USD 2.06 billion of facility spend in 2030 alone, most of it in two places.

Retrofits of existing Milan and Rome halls to AI densities

Hall retrofits grow from 8 MW and USD 37.60 million in 2025 to 16 MW a year in 2028-2030, worth about USD 83.03 million in 2030 (DC Market Insights estimate), as operators such as Aruba (30 MW Hyper Cloud campus in Rome) and the Polo Strategico Nazionale (PSN), the national public-sector cloud with four data centers in Lombardy and Lazio, add liquid loops to halls built for 10-15 kW racks (Source: Aruba; PSN).

Operations and lifecycle services for an installed base of 1,199 MW

Services reach USD 474.88 million by 2035 because every AI megawatt needs USD 0.34-0.45 million a year of maintenance, monitoring and coolant service. Integrators such as E4 Computer Engineering and cloud providers such as WIIT (EUR 158.6 million adjusted revenue in 2024, up 21.9%) are placed to take this work (Source: WIIT).

How Much Does It Cost to Build an AI Data Center in Italy?

An AI megawatt costs USD 14.60 million in facility content in Italy in 2025, before servers (DC Market Insights estimate).

Price item (USD million)	2020	2025	2030	2035
AI facility content per new AI MW	13.22	14.60	16.12	17.80
Retrofit per MW converted	4.26	4.70	5.19	5.73
Services per installed AI MW per year	0.28	0.34	0.40	0.45

Public anchors agree in size: Vantage Data Centers puts more than EUR 350 million into its second Milan campus (MXP2) of 32 MW, about EUR 10.9 million per MW for a whole campus (Source: Vantage, October 2025), and Seeweb lists NVIDIA H100 GPU cloud capacity in Italy from EUR 1.89 an hour (Source: Seeweb price list, October 2026).

Which Permits, Laws and Standards Apply to AI Data Centers in Italy?

Four sets of rules shape the USD 698.87 million of 2026 spend: permits, energy reporting, AI law and design standards.

• Law 49 of 10 April 2026 (converting the Decreto Bollette): single permit for data centers; regions from 50 MW, MASE from 300 MW; MASE guidance of 22 July 2026.
• Legislative Decree 131/2024, Article 16, transposing Article 12 of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive: energy reporting for data centers of 500 kW or more.
• Law 132/2025 on artificial intelligence (in force 10 October 2025) and the EU AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689.
• Senate bill AS 1821, a delegation to the government on data centers, passed by the Chamber of Deputies on 24 February 2026 and pending in the Senate.
• Design standards: the EN 50600 series for data center facilities and the ASHRAE TC 9.9 liquid cooling guidelines, which Italian operators cite in AI hall tenders.

Italy AI Data Center Market Segmentation: Where Does the Money Go, by Segment?

Electrical Infrastructure holds the most value at USD 181.23 million (33.68%) in 2025, and Operations Services and Software grows fastest at 38.24% a year (DC Market Insights estimate).

Italy AI Data Center Market by Component

Power trains lead because AI racks of 50-130 kW need more switchgear, UPS and busway capacity per MW than any other layer.

Component	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
Electrical Infrastructure	181.23	33.68%	949.12	18.01%
Cooling Infrastructure	177.43	32.98%	894.19	17.55%
Building Shell Fit-Out and Racks	137.64	25.58%	731.47	18.18%
AI Network Fabric	23.10	4.29%	126.20	18.51%
Operations Services and Software	18.64	3.46%	474.88	38.24%

Italy AI Data Center Market by Buyer

Colocation and Wholesale Campuses grow fastest at 22.04% a year because Equinix, EdgeConneX, Data4 and the K2 and Cavour campuses lease AI halls to hyperscalers and model builders.

Buyer	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
Hyperscale Cloud Regions	247.50	46.00%	1,492.65	19.68%
Colocation and Wholesale Campuses	156.03	29.00%	1,143.31	22.04%
Sovereign HPC and Public Research	80.71	15.00%	254.07	12.15%
Telecom and Enterprise AI	53.80	10.00%	285.83	18.18%

Italy AI Data Center Market by Cooling Approach

Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling becomes the largest approach by 2027 and reaches 59% of spend in 2035, as NVIDIA Blackwell racks such as the IT4LIA system need liquid at the chip.

Cooling approach	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
Air-Cooled up to 30 kW per Rack	204.45	38.00%	412.86	7.28%
Rear-Door and Hybrid Cooling	145.27	27.00%	635.17	15.90%
Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling	166.79	31.00%	1,873.75	27.37%
Immersion Cooling	21.52	4.00%	254.07	28.00%

Italy AI Data Center Market by Workload

AI Training leads in 2025 with 58% because Eni, CINECA and Domyn built training machines first; AI Inference grows 23.56% a year as models move into banks, public bodies and industry.

Workload	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
AI Training	312.06	58.00%	1,302.10	15.36%
AI Inference	225.97	42.00%	1,873.75	23.56%

DC Exclusive: The Italy Strategic Data Center Programme Tracker, 6 Programmes, About 1,080 MW Named

This tracker is a DC Market Insights model built from 14 inputs (date, stated MW and EUR value of each programme, plus the AI share and price per AI MW used in this model); it lists the six data center programmes the Council of Ministers declared of national strategic interest with a named site, and the AI facility values in the last column are DC Market Insights estimates, not company figures. About 1,080 MW carry a stated capacity; if half of it is built as AI halls at the 2027 price of USD 15.19 million per AI MW, the facility value is about USD 8.20 billion, 1.23 times the USD 6.65 billion the model expects Italy to spend on AI facilities in 2026-2030, so the named programmes alone could fill the forecast if they keep to schedule.

Decision	Programme and site	Stated capacity	Stated investment	AI facility value at 50% AI (DCMI, USD million)
Oct 2025 / Jun 2026	MPX4: Melegnano, Settimo Milanese, Cornaredo and Tavazzano (Lombardy)	Not stated	Over EUR 8 billion	Not modelled
May 2026	EdgeConneX Campus Italia: three Lombardy campuses by 2031	Over 300 MW	About EUR 3 billion	2,278.50
Jul 2026	Equinix: seven data centers at Settimo Milanese and Cusago, 2026-2033	Not stated	EUR 4 billion	Not modelled
Jul 2026	Cavour Hyperscale Campus, Trino (Piedmont)	300-400 MW	About EUR 4 billion	2,658.25
Aug 2026	K2 Strategic Infrastructure, Zibido San Giacomo and Lacchiarella (Milan)	About 400 MW	About EUR 5.3 billion	3,038.00
Aug 2026	Digital Vault Sulcis Edge AI, Gonnesa (Sardinia)	About 30 MW	About EUR 1.49 billion	227.85

The Council of Ministers’ release of 4 August 2026 puts the seven strategic programmes at over EUR 25 billion (Source: Council of Ministers). The tracker shows that Lombardy holds four of the six named programmes, which is why North-West Italy keeps 64.50% of spend in 2035.

Is Milan Still the Centre of Italian AI Data Centers, and Which Region Grows Fastest?

North-West Italy leads with USD 376.62 million (70.00%) in 2025, and the Islands grow fastest at 28.00% a year from a small base (DC Market Insights estimate).

Region	2025 (USD million)	Share 2025	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
North-West	376.62	70.00%	2,048.43	18.45%
Centre	69.94	13.00%	412.86	19.43%
North-East	53.80	10.00%	317.59	19.43%
South	26.90	5.00%	269.95	25.94%
Islands	10.76	2.00%	127.03	28.00%

North-West

Lombardy and Piedmont take USD 376.62 million in 2025: Data4 alone holds 170 MW at Cornaredo and 100 MW at Vittuone near Milan, and Eni’s Green Data Center at Ferrera Erbognone hosts HPC6 and HPC7 (Source: Data4; Eni).

Centre

Lazio and Tuscany spend USD 69.94 million in 2025, led by Rome, where Aruba’s Hyper Cloud campus has five data centers of 6 MW each and Digital Realty expects its first Rome data center (ROM1) to open in early 2027 (Source: Aruba; Digital Realty).

North-East

The North-East spends USD 53.80 million in 2025, almost all of it in Bologna, where CINECA runs Leonardo with over 15,000 GPUs and will host the EUR 290 million IT4LIA system (Source: NVIDIA; EuroHPC).

South

The South grows 25.94% a year to USD 269.95 million in 2035, starting with Domyn’s AI factory of 5,760 NVIDIA Grace Blackwell GPUs in southern Italy (Source: NVIDIA, June 2025).

Islands

The Islands grow from USD 10.76 million to USD 127.03 million, driven by the 30 MW Digital Vault Sulcis Edge AI campus at Gonnesa, declared strategic in August 2026 (Source: Council of Ministers).

Which Italian Provinces Get the Most AI Data Center Investment?

Milan Metropolitan City leads with USD 215.21 million in 2025, 40% of the national total; South Sardinia (Gonnesa) grows fastest at 33.84% a year, and among larger markets Lodi grows 28.00% a year (DC Market Insights estimate).

Rank	Province or city	Region	2025 (USD million)	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
1	Milan Metropolitan City	North-West	215.21	1,048.03	17.15%
2	Pavia (Ferrera Erbognone)	North-West	64.56	254.07	14.68%
3	Rome	Centre	59.18	333.46	18.87%
4	Bologna	North-East	43.04	238.19	18.66%
5	Bergamo	North-West	37.66	158.79	15.48%
6	Turin	North-West	21.52	127.03	19.43%
7	Lodi (Tavazzano)	North-West	16.14	190.55	28.00%
8	Naples	South	13.45	127.03	25.17%
9	Genoa	North-West	10.76	63.52	19.43%
10	Bari	South	8.07	95.28	28.00%
11	Florence	Centre	6.46	38.11	19.43%
12	South Sardinia (Gonnesa)	Islands	4.30	79.40	33.84%

What Would Change the 2035 Outlook for Italy’s AI Data Centers?

The 2035 market ranges from USD 2.23 billion to USD 3.96 billion around the base case of USD 3.18 billion.

Scenario	Assumption from 2027	2035 (USD million)	CAGR 2025-2035
Low	New IT MW 25% below base and AI share 5 points lower (grid delays at Terna)	2,228.38	15.27%
Base	875 MW of new IT capacity in 2026-2030; AI share 50% in 2030 and 58% in 2035	3,175.85	19.43%
High	New IT MW 20% above base and prices 5% higher (strategic campuses on time)	3,964.45	22.11%

Who Builds and Buys AI Data Center Capacity in Italy, and How Concentrated Is the Market?

The market is concentrated on the buyer side: DC Market Insights estimates that five buyers (Microsoft, AWS, Google Cloud, Equinix and Data4) account for about 58% of 2025 spend, based on the 46% hyperscale share and the two largest colocation campuses near Milan.

• Microsoft: Italy North region; EUR 4.3 billion programme announced in October 2024.
• Amazon Web Services: Milan region; more than EUR 1.2 billion more to 2029.
• Google Cloud: Milan and Turin regions; the Turin region opened with three zones in 2023.
• Equinix: Milan and Genoa sites; seven new data centers worth EUR 4 billion in 2026-2033.
• Data4: 170 MW Cornaredo and 100 MW Vittuone campuses near Milan.
• Vantage Data Centers: MXP1 (64 MW) and MXP2 (32 MW) near Milan.
• Digital Realty: ROM1 in Rome from early 2027 and up to 84 MW at Abbiategrasso.
• STACK Infrastructure: Siziano campus south of Milan.
• EdgeConneX: three Lombardy campuses of over 300 MW by 2031.
• Aruba: Global Cloud Data Center at Ponte San Pietro and the 30 MW Rome campus.
• TIM Enterprise: national data center network and partner in the PSN; cloud is its fastest-growing line.
• Fastweb: NeXXt AI Factory of 31 NVIDIA DGX H100 systems.
• Eni: HPC6 and HPC7 and a letter of intent with MGX and G42 for up to 1 GW.
• Domyn: Colosseum AI factory of 5,760 Grace Blackwell GPUs.
• CINECA: Leonardo and the IT4LIA AI Factory in Bologna.
• E4 Computer Engineering: system builder for IT4LIA with Dell.
• Schneider Electric and Vertiv: leading power and cooling suppliers to Italian AI halls.

Company facts: TIM Enterprise reported EUR 2.4 billion of revenue in the first nine months of 2025, up 4.4%, with cloud service revenue up 23% (Source: TIM, November 2025). Eni’s February 2025 letter of intent with MGX and G42 plans two phases of up to 500 MW each at Ferrera Erbognone (Source: Eni). Cooling demand behind these halls is sized in the Italy Data Center Cooling Market report.

Which 2025-2026 Decisions Moved Italy’s AI Data Center Pipeline?

Six decisions between February 2025 and August 2026 added at least 1,080 MW of named strategic capacity and two new sovereign AI systems.

• In February 2025, Eni signed a letter of intent with MGX and G42 for Italian data centers of up to 1 GW, starting at Ferrera Erbognone (Source: Eni).
• In September 2025, Law 132/2025 on artificial intelligence was published, with up to EUR 1 billion for AI investment through CDP Venture Capital (Source: Department for Digital Transformation).
• In April 2026, EuroHPC signed the EUR 290 million IT4LIA AI Factory system contract for Bologna, and Law 49/2026 confirmed the single data center permit (Source: EuroHPC; MASE).
• In June 2026, Eni reported that HPC6 and HPC7 together exceed 1 exaflop (Source: Eni).
• In July 2026, MASE published its first permit guidance, and the Council of Ministers declared the Equinix and Cavour programmes strategic, about EUR 8 billion together (Source: MASE; Council of Ministers).
• In August 2026, the Council of Ministers added the K2 campus (about 400 MW) and the Sulcis Edge AI campus (about 30 MW), raising the strategic programmes to seven and over EUR 25 billion (Source: Council of Ministers).

Methodology: How DC Market Insights Sized AI Data Center Spend in Italy

DC Market Insights built the Italy AI data center model bottom-up from 16 annual capacity cohorts and 12 inputs. The inputs are new IT MW completed in Italy (45 MW in 2020, 110 MW in 2025, 225 MW in 2030, 255 MW in 2035, consistent with an installed base of about 600-760 MW at the end of 2025), the AI share of new capacity (4%, 30%, 50%, 58%), AI facility content of USD 14.60 million per AI MW in 2025 rising 2% a year, retrofits of 8 MW in 2025 at USD 4.70 million per MW, and services of USD 0.34 million per installed AI MW a year (0.45 by 2035) on an installed AI base of 94.99 MW at the end of 2025 (1.5% retired a year). Euro amounts are converted at USD 1.13 per euro.

Three bound checks hold the result in place. First, 875 MW of new national IT capacity in 2026-2030 at a PUE of 1.3 draws about 1.14 GW, inside Terna’s reported 1.5-3 GW connection outlook for 2030 (ceiling). Second, AI facility spend of USD 1.24 billion in 2025-2026 equals about 19% of the EUR 5.79 billion (about USD 6.54 billion) that Microsoft, AWS and IT4LIA committed for the period including servers (ceiling). Third, the named AI systems (Eni’s 27,800 GPUs, Leonardo’s 16,300, Domyn’s 5,760 and Fastweb’s 248) need about 60 MW at roughly 1.2 kW per GPU, below the 94.99 MW of installed AI capacity modelled for the end of 2025 (floor). Every split sums to the total in every year, and the CAGR is recomputed from the endpoints. Full method notes are on the DC Market Insights research methodology page.