Cisco will build a 4MW data center in Krakow, Poland.

According to an agreement with the country’s Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, construction on the new facility will begin in July and start operations by the end of the summer.

Cisco added that it will invest 200 million PLN ($56.5 million) into the new data center, which will also include space for R&D laboratories to boost research into AI technologies and sustainable development.

No details were made available about the predicted compute or staffing at the site. DCD has approached Cisco for comment.

“Our new Krakow data center will become a cornerstone for consolidating and scaling Cisco’s EMEA operations, enabling us to deliver next-generation solutions, validate complex architectures, and accelerate innovation for customers and partners worldwide,” said Jacek Przybylski, Cisco’s senior director for CXC EMEA in Krakow.

The vibrancy of the city’s talent pool is at the heart of this decision Przybylski added.

"Our commitment here is an investment in people, supporting the development of world-class expertise in networking, cloud, security, automation, and artificial intelligence."

Cisco’s new data center will expand what is already a sizeable presence for the company in Poland’s second city. Originally arriving in Krakow in 2012, the networking firm has since opened a global support center and a security operations center in the city, becoming the networking firm’s second-largest office in Europe with almost 3,000 staff.

The announcement was met with praise from Krakow’s mayor, Aleksander Misalzki. “This decision shows that the competencies of Krakow specialists in the areas of networking, cloud, cybersecurity, automation, and AI are recognized and highly valued around the world,” he said.

The announcement follows news that Cisco has also secured a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement (PPA) to buy 470GWh of solar energy from the renewable power company R.Power. The latter firm, based in Poland, currently has 1.7GW of forthcoming and built projects across Europe, including a 164MW PPA with Amazon in Poland’s Opole and West Pomeranian voivodships and an 11-year 240GW dPPA with the Polish telco Play in Wielkopolskie voivodship.

Its deal with R.Power, said Cisco, will directly support the expansion of its facilities in Krakow. “We are proud to support the growth of renewable energy in Europe through this partnership,” said Evan Scott Brown, a renewable energy and utilities manager at Cisco. “This agreement not only aligns with Cisco’s commitment to powering a more resilient future, but also directly supports operational needs, including the expansion of our lab facilities in Krakow.”