Digital Realty has officially entered the Portuguese market after acquiring a data center facility in Lisbon, marking a strategic move that strengthens the company’s presence across Southern Europe. The project highlights Lisbon’s growing role as a key hub for global digital infrastructure and subsea connectivity.
The newly acquired facility is designed to support up to 2.4 megawatts of IT load and is expected to become operational in early 2027. While financial details of the acquisition were not fully disclosed, company reports indicate that Digital Realty purchased land and an existing building in the Carnaxide area of Lisbon for approximately 8.3 million dollars. The site will undergo development to support modern data center operations and meet the increasing demand for digital infrastructure in Europe.
Lisbon has gained attention in recent years as a strategic location for data centers due to its position along the Atlantic Ocean and its access to major submarine cable systems. These cables connect Europe to North America, South America, Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia. placing infrastructure close to cable landing stations, technology companies can reduce latency and improve the speed at which data moves between continents.
The Lisbon site is located near the submarine cable landing stations in Carcavelos, making it one of the closest data center locations to the region’s critical network infrastructure. This proximity allows Digital Realty to support cable landing services and interconnection opportunities for telecommunications operators, cloud providers and enterprise clients seeking efficient global connectivity.
Digital Realty leadership described the investment as an important step within the company’s broader Iberian strategy. The firm already operates multiple facilities in Spain, including four data centers in Madrid, and has plans to expand operations in Barcelona in the coming years. adding Lisbon to its regional network, the company aims to strengthen interconnection options across the Iberian Peninsula while providing customers with greater geographic diversity and infrastructure resilience.
The company also indicated that the Lisbon site may support additional development in the future. Although specific expansion plans have not yet been detailed, Digital Realty said it is preparing the location for long term scalability and potential campus style growth. Such developments are increasingly common in the data center sector as demand continues to rise due to cloud computing, digital services and artificial intelligence workloads.
Portugal’s data center sector remains smaller than some other European markets but is rapidly evolving. Several international operators already maintain facilities in the Lisbon region, while local companies also contribute to the country’s growing digital infrastructure landscape.
One of the largest projects currently under development in Portugal is the Start Campus data center complex located in Sines, south of Lisbon. The facility has attracted attention across the technology sector and is expected to host infrastructure for global technology companies including Microsoft and Nscale.
As global internet traffic and cloud demand continue to expand, cities with strong subsea connectivity and strategic geographic positioning are becoming increasingly valuable for infrastructure providers. Lisbon’s Atlantic location and its role in international cable networks place it among the emerging European destinations for large scale digital infrastructure investment.
