HSCALE, the hyperscale data centre firm backed by Bain Capital, has secured a second large-scale campus in north-west Milan, as it commits more than €2 billion to the region.
The two campuses, both located in Settimo in north-west Milan, will give HSCALE 250 MW of committed power capacity in the Milan metropolitan area. The firm says both sites are expected to be ready for service in 2028, with pre-construction and procurement work already underway.
Milan has become an increasingly important market for cloud and AI infrastructure, particularly as hyperscalers look beyond the traditional FLAP-D markets of Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin as they come under increasing strain and see costs spiral. The city is also home to MIX, Italy’s largest internet exchange point, with more than 420 connected networks.
That combination of connectivity and available grid capacity has made Milan a key deployment zone in Southern Europe.
Built for AI and traditional workloads
HSCALE says both Milan sites are fully owned, with power committed and key development milestones already reached.
The company has also spent 12 months refining the engineering design for the campuses, with the base design intended to support air-cooled, direct liquid-cooled or hybrid configurations.
“We designed HSCALE’s Milan campuses around a simple principle, the building should never be the bottleneck. Our base design is liquid-cooled first, built for the most demanding hyperscale and AI workloads, and can pivot to air-cooled traditional deployments in the same physical structure. No redesign, no additional capex. We design and build like this because we understand the long-term commitments our customers must make,” noted Oliver Schiebel, CEO at HSCALE..
Paul Berry-Selwood, CCO at HSCALE, added, “Milan is one of the strongest hyperscale markets in Europe and we are committing around €2 billion to this region because we understand what the market needs and are serious about its growth potential. Our team closed the second site, secured the power and is already progressing through pre-construction, ensuring we deliver real capacity, as fast as possible.”
HSCALE says its energy strategy in Milan will use a diversified supply mix, with close to 50% of power sourced from renewable generation, including solar, wind and hydroelectric. The company says it intends to increase that share over time as grid capacity and renewable generation in northern Italy expand.
The firm is also working with Aquila Clean Energy through a structural partnership, which HSCALE says gives it access to clean energy supplies beyond standard power purchase agreements.
