Microsoft has announced plans to invest $10 billion, starting in 2026, in a mega data centre in Portugal to enhance its artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The new facility, which will operate entirely on renewable energy, will house 12,600 next-generation chips from semiconductor giant Nvidia.
Microsoft is partnering with British company Nscale, which specialises in AI data centres, and Portugal’s Start Campus, which has already begun building the large data centre near the port city of Sines in southern Portugal.
Sines was chosen as the location for the project due to its strategic position as a major hub for undersea telecom cables connecting the United States and Europe.
According to Microsoft, this will be one of Europe’s largest investments in AI computing.
Microsoft President Brad Smith highlighted Portugal’s emergence as a key destination for such projects in Europe during an interview with the Portuguese financial newspaper Jornal de Negócios on the margins of the annual Web Summit in Lisbon.
