Digital Europe, locked in the socket: the paradox that slows down AI and data centers

The critical vulnerability of energy has become the main risk factor for the accelerated development of data centers and artificial intelligence factories in Europe, threatening to slow down the very infrastructure that the European Union considers essential for competitiveness and digital sovereignty, according to an article published by the Italian website Elettrico Magazine, which cites a report published by the Data Center Observatory of the Polytechnic of Milan.

According to the cited source, the explosion of requests for connection to high-voltage networks has created a structural blockage at the continental level, with requests already exceeding the threshold of 60 Gigawatts (GW) at the European level, well before the actual use of the required capacities. Experts at the Polytechnic University of Milan believe that the phenomenon is making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between real needs and speculative moves, with hundreds of megawatts locked up on paper years before they come online. This energy bottleneck is common across Europe and risks becoming the main brake on the expansion of data centers and the new artificial intelligence factories and gigafactories promoted by the European Commission, at a time when demand for computing power is growing exponentially. Against this tense backdrop, Europe is nevertheless entering a new phase of digital infrastructure, in which data centers are no longer simple technical assets, but become central elements of the economy, security and geopolitical power. The analysis carried out by Italian experts on the 13 European data center poles reveals an extremely dynamic ecosystem, capable of attracting an unprecedented volume of investment. The cited source claims that in the next three years, 2026-2028, potential investments are estimated at 110 billion euros, almost four times more than the 29.5 billion euros in the period 2023-2025, which records an acceleration that marks the transition from a phase of consolidation to one of open competition for capacity, energy and control over data.

This expansion is taking place in a deeply polarized market. The cited report also shows that at European level 182 companies own over 700 active infrastructures, with a nominal operational IT power of 7.4 GW, but the concentration is extreme: 52% of this power is in the hands of just five players, of which approximately 70% are American companies. At the same time, almost 69% of IT capacity is controlled by colocation operators, a sign that the data center has become a real estate asset class in its own right, built not only on existing demand but also on anticipation of the future explosion generated by the cloud, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

The cited report states that the FLAPD area - Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin - remains the historical core of European infrastructure, concentrating around 76% of operational IT power and still attracting around 55% of total investment. These markets are estimated to add over 2.1 GW of new IT by 2028, confirming their role as gravitational centers of the European digital economy. However, the real transformation is coming from outside this traditional core, as new regional poles begin to reach the critical mass necessary to compete directly with FLAPD.

The Nordic countries are consolidating their position by investing in advanced technologies and robust energy infrastructures, with Finland and Helsinki aspiring to become emerging hubs, including in the area of quantum computing. In parallel, southern Europe is entering a phase of accelerated expansion, and here Milan is asserting itself as the strongest case of strategic repositioning on the continent. With 414 MW IT already active, equivalent to around 6% of total European power, Milan is on track to reach the symbolic and strategic threshold of 1 GW IT by 2028, approaching the size of FLAPD markets. In this scenario, Italy's economic capital could attract up to 23% of data center investments in the next three years, becoming the main hub of southern Europe, while Madrid, with around 390 MW IT, remains the main regional competitor.

Beyond the economic dimension, the stakes are deeply strategic. As Marina Natalucci, Research Director of the Data Center Observatory, points out, data centers are the first key element in building European digital sovereignty, being the place where companies' data is managed, protected and exploited. Without a solid infrastructure of its own, Europe risks remaining structurally dependent on external platforms, technologies and decisions in an area that has become essential for economic competitiveness and political autonomy.

This awareness is reflected in European initiatives dedicated to artificial intelligence. AI Innov ation Package, the AI Continent Action Plan and the launch of the InvestAI Facility, which includes a euro20 billion fund for the development of up to five artificial intelligence gigafactories - one of which will be in Romania - mark a paradigm shift at the European Union level.

But all these ambitions converge towards the same hard limit: energy. Without resolving the connection bottlenecks and without coherent planning of the electricity infrastructure, the investment boom risks turning into a waiting exercise. Massive requests for high-voltage connections, submitted well in advance of actual use, strain networks, delay projects and create uncertainty in a sector that should be predictable by definition.

Finally, the European data center market has definitively surpassed the stage of invisible infrastructure and become a field of strategic competition. Europe is at a turning point: either it manages to transform this wave of investment into a coherent energy and digital infrastructure, capable of supporting artificial intelligence and the economy of the future, or it risks remaining a secondary actor in a world where data and energy define the new hierarchy of power.