Microsoft announced that it will invest US$10 billion in building an artificial intelligence data center on the coast of Portugal. The investment is one of Microsoft's biggest moves in Europe this year. Microsoft is expected to build a data center park in Sines, about 150 kilometers away from Lisbon, with partners including Portuguese developer Start Campus and British start-up Nscale.
Microsoft President Brad Smith disclosed the investment plan to local media "Jornal de Negócios" for the first time at the Web Summit held in the Portuguese capital.
A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that the amount of funds was genuine, but did not comment further. A Start Campus representative said the $10 billion figure is broadly consistent with the next phase of development negotiations the company is currently advancing. In March this year, Start Campus opened the first of six planned buildings on the Sins campus.
Back in October, Microsoft had reached a multi-year agreement to lease some of the data center capacity at its Sins campus. The high-profile investment comes as Microsoft continues to expand its computing infrastructure to meet surging demand for artificial intelligence services. Due to the shortage of computing power, Microsoft has recently signed cooperation agreements with a number of high-performance cloud computing services ("new cloud" service providers), including companies such as CoreWeave and Nebius Group. Microsoft also plans to lease data center capacity from Nscale in Norway and the UK.
Sins, a seaside town with about 15,000 inhabitants, has become a key investment hub in Portugal. The region is home to transsubmarine cables connecting Europe, Brazil and Africa, and Google will soon build a new line here to South Carolina. In May this year, China's CALB Group Co. also launched a battery factory construction project worth 2 billion euros (approximately US$2.3 billion) locally. In addition, Sins was also selected as a Portuguese candidate for EU support in building an AI "super factory".
