Key takeaways: Vantage Data Centers will invest €350+ million to build a second Milan-area campus (MXP2) in Castelletto, with the first phase targeting ~32 MW IT load by spring 2026. The Italian government has formally tagged Vantage’s multi-campus buildout as “nationally strategic infrastructure” under Decree Law 104/2023, unlocking a friendlier path for permits and investment. Vantage signals ~€4 billion of total spend in Italy over eight years and thousands of jobs along the way. Reuters+1
What Vantage is building—and where
Vantage’s MXP2 will rise in Castelletto (Lombardy), complementing its existing MXP1 footprint in the Milan metro. Phase one aims to deliver ~32 MW across two facilities, with campus-class electrical and mechanical resilience (N+1 across critical systems) designed for hyperscaler and AI loads. Reuters+1
Vantage frames the Milan region as a connective node for low-latency routes into Zurich, Frankfurt, and Munich—an appeal that has strengthened as AI training and inference demand pushes operators to seek high-capacity, high-connectivity metros beyond the traditional FLAP (Frankfurt–London–Amsterdam–Paris) quartet. w.media
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The policy unlock: “Nationally strategic infrastructure”
A notable underpinning of the MXP2 announcement is Rome’s designation of Vantage’s developments as nationally strategic investments under Article 13 of Decree Law 104/2023 (the “Asset Decree”). In practical terms, that status typically expedites authorizations and signals political backing for power, land, and network build-out—critical bottlenecks across Europe’s data-center markets. Vantage Data Centers+2DLA Piper+2
Vantage says its Italy program totals ~€4 billion over eight years, supporting ~4,000 construction jobs and ~250 permanent roles, indicating a multi-site roadmap that leverages this designation. Vantage Data Centers
Why Italy—and why now?
Italy’s data-center strategy has accelerated over the last 24 months, with large-ticket projects and investor dialogues moving into the open:
- €30 billion “single-group” mega-project teased by the government (identity undisclosed). AllSides+3Reuters+3Datacenter Dynamics+3
- Microsoft’s €4.3–4.8 billion plan to expand AI/cloud capacity in Northern Italy, positioning the ItalyNorth region as a Mediterranean and North Africa hub. Reuters
- Eni + Khazna’s 500 MW Milan-area campus concept, leveraging gas-with-CCS (“blue power”) to feed digital loads. Reuters
Legal and advisory analyses also point to streamlined authorization tracks and investment-attraction mechanisms, with Lombardy and Piedmont currently concentrating the majority of national DC demand—and new growth spilling into Lazio and Puglia. advant-nctm.com
Specs snapshot (what customers care about)
- Capacity: ~32 MW IT in phase one of MXP2; campus-class scale suitable for AI and cloud expansion. Reuters
- Redundancy & ops: N+1 across critical systems; Vantage’s in-house operations model for uptime. Vantage Data Centers
- Go-live window: First phase targeted by spring 2026 (subject to delivery timelines and grid milestones). Vantage Data Centers
- Investment scale: €350+ million for MXP2; ~€4 billion Italy-wide over eight years. Reuters+1
The power and permitting reality
Italy—like the rest of Europe—faces grid-capacity and lead-time constraints. The strategic-infrastructure label is meaningful: it can shorten approvals and coordinate agencies around land, power, and connectivity. But even with policy tailwinds, operators must lock medium-term power purchase structures, diversify sources (including gas-backed, CCS-enabled power in interim phases), and plan for substation/line buildouts aligned with campus ramps. DLA Piper+1
Competitive landscape: Milan’s push into the “AI decade”
Between Vantage, hyperscalers, and energy-linked ventures, Milan is evolving from a regional interconnect into an AI-capable hub. The combination of submarine landing routes into the Med, terrestrial backbones crossing the Alps, and growing cloud regions makes the metro a logical expansion target as Frankfurt and London grapple with power queues and planning friction. Vantage’s timing captures this capacity shift and aligns with customers seeking regional diversity without sacrificing latency to Central Europe. w.media
Risks to watch
- Grid delivery risk: Substation energization and transmission upgrades must land on schedule for 2026+ ramps. DLA Piper
- Policy durability: Italy is pro-infrastructure today; operators still monitor permitting changes, energy taxation, and water/heat-reuse mandates that can reshape TCO. DLA Piper
- Construction capacity: With multiple 100-MW-class builds queued nationally, skilled-labor and supply-chain tightness can pressure timelines and costs. (Inference based on the clustering of large projects.) Reuters+1
What it means for buyers (cloud, AI, and enterprise)
- Capacity optionality: Another 30+ MW entering the pipeline gives hyperscalers and large enterprises new availability-zone hedges in mainland Europe. Reuters
- Latency mapping: MXP2’s placement retains sub-10-ms paths to major DACH hubs for many routes, useful for AI inference and real-time analytics that can’t tolerate longer hops. (Supported by Vantage’s location rationale.) w.media
- Siting strategy: For regulated workloads desiring EU jurisdiction with Mediterranean network reach, Milan’s profile is improving versus tier-one markets facing longer power queues.
Outlook: 2026 and beyond
Expect Milan to graduate into a top-tier European AI region if (1) power tie-ins keep pace, (2) heat-reuse and efficiency standards are met without throttling capacity, and (3) policy support around strategic infrastructure remains consistent. With MXP2 now in motion—and a pipeline of multi-billion-euro projects under evaluation—Italy is positioning itself as Europe’s next growth pole for hyperscale and AI-centric compute. Reuters+2Reuters+2
