Microsoft announces $10b AI data centre investment in Portugal

• Project involves deploying 12,600 next-generation NVIDIA GPUs in the Sines facility.
• Aims to position Portugal as a benchmark for the responsible and scalable development of AI in Europe.

Microsoft plans to invest $10 billion over the next several years in a cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) data center in Sines, a port city 150 km south of Lisbon.

The initiative marks one of Europe’s largest AI-focused infrastructure projects and underscores Portugal’s emerging role as a strategic tech and data hub.

Key details of investment

• Microsoft will collaborate closely with Start Campus—a joint venture between US investment firm Davidson Kempner and the UK’s Pioneer Point Partners—alongside AI infrastructure platform Nscale and chipmaker NVIDIA.
• The project involves deploying 12,600 next-generation NVIDIA GPUs in the Sines facility, greatly expanding the region’s AI processing power and supporting Microsoft’s cloud and AI services across Europe.
• The Sines project is a part of Start Campus’s broader 8.5 billion euro ($9.9 billion) investment plan to establish a multi-building data centre hub by 2030. One of these six planned buildings is already operational.

Strategic significance

Microsoft’s partnership aims to position Portugal as a leader in responsible and scalable AI development.

“By strengthening the national AI infrastructure through collaboration with Nscale, NVIDIA, and Start Campus, we are helping to position Portugal as a benchmark for the responsible and scalable development of AI in Europe,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft’s Vice Chair and President.

Portugal’s Atlantic coastal location offers a unique advantage as a landing point for subsea cables connecting Europe with Africa and the Americas, reinforcing the country’s status as a backbone for global data and internet connectivity.

Additionally, Sines is attracting significant investment in renewable energy production, vital for powering the energy-intensive needs of modern data centers in a sustainable way.

Global investments in data centres have accelerated since the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2022, as cloud computing and AI integration become central to corporate strategies across industries.