European data center operator Virtus has begun construction of a 204MW data center outside Berlin, Germany.

Situated 12km (7.4m) west of the capital in the municipality of Wustermark, the firm will invest a total of €3 billion ($3.5bn) in the project.

Delayed from its original opening date of 2026, the campus will cover some 3.7 million sq ft (350,000 sqm). DCD has approached Virtus for comment.

“This ambitious undertaking is Virtus' second site in the Berlin Brandenburg region and follows hot on the heels of the announcement of our Berlin Marienpark Campus in May 2023,” said Virtus’ VP of business development EMEA, Christina Mertens, when the Wustermark campus was originally announced. “As we take this step, we are proud to contribute to the vibrant data center landscape of Berlin Brandenburg.”

Construction of the new data center is beginning with its substation, which is scheduled for completion by 2027, as reported by Markische Allgemeine. The rest of the complex is designed to meet Tier III+ data center standards and will be built in stages, with the first unit planned to be open for business in early 2028.

Nine separate data centers are planned for the campus, with waste heat from their server rooms diverted to a district heating scheme in the nearby Havelland and Potsdam regions. All units will include high-density rack support and closed-loop chilled water cooling systems to support high-performance computing and AI applications. Power to the complex will be supplied, in large part, by several nearby onshore wind farms.

Founded in 2008, Virtus is headquartered in the UK and currently operates four data center campuses in the country, clustered in the Greater London area. Other campuses are planned for Buckinghamshire in central England and Milan in northern Italy.

The operator also broke ground last year on another campus in Berlin’s Marienpark business park. Smaller than its counterpart in Wustermark, the complex will host four data centers supplying 57.6MW of IT load across 204,515 sq ft (19,000 sqm) and is expected to open for business in 2027.

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