Start Campus inaugurates first €8.5Bn building in €30Bn data centre project

The first building of six for Start Campus in an eventual total €30Bn data project investment at Sines was officially inaugurated in April in what will eventually be the biggest single overseas investment in Portugal since VW Autoeuropa in 1995.

Text: Chris Graeme Photo: Lusa

The torrential early morning rain on Friday, April 4 didn’t initially seem to bode well for the official launch of the first building of Start Campus, one of six that will eventually be built on the site outside Sines that will provide 15MW of power from the €8.5Bn facility.

And when the entire project is complete, all six data centre facilities will produce a massive 1.2GW of energy in a projected total investment of €30Bn by the end of the decade.

By the time the Minister of the Economy, Pedro Reis and the Minister of Infrastructures, Miguel Pinto Luz arrived at the campus to begin a tour of the state-of-the-art premises, the sun was shining as he was greeted by the CEO of Start Campus, Robert Dunn.

This first building, called SIN01, is part of what will become the largest data centre ever commissioned in Portugal, and is totally financed by US private investment from global investors Davidson Kempner, Capital Management LP, and Pioneer Point Partners.

In fact, not a red cent will come from public money, subsidies, EU funding or indeed any kind of tax sweeteners.

Currently employing 70 people, when complete, the project will create 900 direct jobs and many indirect ones, and will be the largest artificial intelligence platform in Europe.

A new paradigm

Among the invited guests was Douglas A. Koneff, the Chargé d’Affaires at the US embassy in Lisbon who would not be drawn on the current tariff wars.

“Start Campus is not just another data centre, it represents a new paradigm. With a majority shareholding from the US’s Davidson Kempner. This campus when completed will be one of the largest American and overseas investments in the history of Portugal,” he said.

“We are talking about an extraordinary investment of €30Bn to 2030, with big ‘superscalers’ from the US that are bringing their best technology to Portugal, creating thousands of new qualified jobs here and in the US, boosting the local economy, and laying the foundations for a prosperous digital ecosystem,” he said, adding: “If anyone knows of another investment project on this scale creating more qualified jobs and investing more in the future of this country, please tell me because I don’t know where it is”.

Doubling Portugal’s data centre capacity

The Minister of the Economy, Pedro Reis, said the project had effectively doubled Portugal’s data centre capacity. “I see here not only a doubling of current capacity in terms of data centres in Portugal, but also the future of the Portuguese economy”.

“Start Campus will create qualified jobs, specialised and technically qualified workforces in a vast support network that ranges from security to the maintenance of telecommunications and the development, generation and management of energy through an integrated network of infrastructures,” he added.

Pedro Reis also highlighted the “economic and structural impact of the project in the volume of exports both in terms of services, such as the acquisition of specialised technical equipment, and for expanding the business ecosystem.”

Regarding sustainability, Pedro Reis pointed to the advanced technology using sea water as a cooling agent, renewable energy, auto-consumption and the use and treatment of water.

“This investment is a reflection of what the Portuguese economy could be, from profound strategic alliances to intense American investment attraction, and tax, infrastructure, incentives, talent and value chains”, the minister added.

The CEO of Start Campus, Robert Dunn said: “Our state-of-the-art premises will strengthen the digital ecosystem, creating more job opportunities, attracting talent, and providing a sold base for the economic growth of Portugal in what will be the main European large-scale date centre campus prepared for artificial intelligence.”

Robert Dunn continued that Start Campus was already exploring further investment opportunities apart from Sines.

“We’re looking at some other opportunities, both in Portugal and overseas”, he said, adding that he couldn’t reveal what the projects were since they were still at a due diligence phase without referring to rumours that the company was again looking to buy telecoms company Altice Portugal’s data centre in Covilhã, which it had tried unsuccessfully to buy last year, and has been on the market for some years.

A multi-government project

The Minister for Infrastructures, Miguel Pinto Luz, made clear that the Start Campus was not the project of one government. “We are here in all humility and this project goes beyond political cycles. It began with the previous government and ends with this government.

This is not the work of one government or another, this is a project for Portugal,” he said in a reference to the groundwork undertaken by the former minister of the Economy, António Costa Silva and former minister of Infrastructures, João Galamba under the PS António Costa-led government.

“This is the vision at the moment: to focus on the economy and entrepreneurs, rewarding those entrepreneurs who take risks, and we invite you (US companies) to make more investments, “said Miguel Pinto Luz. In turn, the Minister of Economy said that the fact that the investment overlapped several governments showed “continuity” and, consequently, “the future”.

A game changer

Douglas A. Koneff, the Chargé d’Affaires at the US embassy, summed up the project to Essential Business by saying: “This €30Bn of investment by 2030, creating thousands of skilled jobs both in the United States and in Portugal.

“This really changes the game and makes Portugal a technology and innovation bridge between the United States and Europe, and between the Americas and Europe and Asia. It will advance Portugal’s capabilities in AI and Cloud computing. This really is a state-of-the-art facility, the largest US investment in Portugal ever, and we are very excited about the project.”

Photos: Minister of the Economy, Pedro Reis, Minister of Infrastructures, Miguel Pinto Luz, and CEO of Start Campus, Robert Dunn at the inauguration on Friday (April 4) of what will be a €30Bn data centre investment near Sines.