Data center firm Digital Realty is expanding in Italy with plans for a campus in Milan.

The colo giant this week announced its coming entry into the Milan market, acquiring two parcels in Abbiategrasso, southwest of Milan’s city center.

The company aims to develop an 8MW facility, with the first phase targeted to launch in 2028. Digital Realty plans further expansion on the larger plot, enabling up to 84MW of capacity.

"We’re excited to enter Milan, Italy’s business capital with a dynamic tech ecosystem," said Paula Cogan, managing director, EMEA, Digital Realty. "By expanding into Milan, we are providing much-needed infrastructure to support the city’s growth as a digital hub, fostering new content, interconnection, and cloud communities while assuring long-term capacity for AI and hyperscale deployments."

Other operators with an existing or planned presence around Milan include Data4, Vantage, OVH, Echelon, Aruba, HScale, NTT, CyrusOne, Stack, Apto, Virtus, Compass, Irideos, Equinix, and others. Most of the major hyperscale players operate cloud regions out of Milan.

Digital is currently developing its first Italian data center in the capital city, Rome. After breaking ground last year, ROM1 is set to launch in early 2027 with 3MW of capacity. First announced back in September 2023, Digital has said that the 22-hectare campus could total 2.3 million sq ft (213,676 sqm) at full build-out, making it one of the largest data center projects in the country.