Portugal emerges as competitive European hub for data centers

Portugal is emerging as one of Europe's most competitive markets for data center installation, according to a report by JLL titled ‘Data Centers in Portugal 2026’. The country benefits from high levels of renewable energy, international connectivity, and available land, which are becoming critical as Artificial Intelligence (AI) increases infrastructure demand.

As energy constraints and grid capacity issues affect major European hubs, new hyperscale projects are being located further from traditional centers. Portugal is positioned as a key secondary market due to its geographic location and subsea cable connectivity, including the 2Africa cable and Google’s upcoming Nuvem cable. Significant developments include the Start Campus project in Sines, which aims for a capacity of 1,200 megawatts powered by renewable energy.