Core Stack plans €1bn Italian data centres

Core Stack and Green Arrow Capital plan to invest more than €1 billion in 13 data centres across Italy over four years, beginning with facilities in the provinces of Cremona and Verona.

The companies are targeting permits for the first two sites by the end of 2027 and operation from the first quarter of 2028. Development will initially concentrate on northern and northeastern Italy before extending towards central and southern regions.

The programme uses a distributed model rather than concentrating capacity in one very large campus. Core Stack designs its facilities to operate as parts of a national network, allowing computing capacity to be positioned closer to businesses and institutions while management remains coordinated across multiple locations.

Each site still requires the same fundamental infrastructure found in a larger data centre. Incoming electricity, transformers, switchgear, backup power, cooling, telecommunications and physical security all have to be designed around the computing load and commissioned before customer equipment can operate reliably.

Distributing those systems across 13 locations changes the construction challenge. Equipment and design principles can be repeated where conditions allow, but grid capacity, fibre routes, planning requirements, land conditions and access vary between sites, so the programme cannot rely on one building design being copied without modification.

Core Stack intends renewable generation to form part of the infrastructure at its facilities. Producing electricity on site can reduce dependence on grid purchases, although the company has not disclosed the generation capacity or total electrical demand planned for Cremona, Verona or the other proposed locations.

That missing capacity information prevents a firm assessment of the scale of the electrical works. Data centre power architecture depends on the IT load and required resilience, which in turn determine transformer capacity, switchgear ratings, backup arrangements and the amount of space required for electrical plant.

Cooling design is similarly dependent on the equipment installed inside the data halls. Higher density computing can place much larger heat loads into a smaller floor area than conventional enterprise equipment, affecting air movement, chilled water systems or any liquid cooling infrastructure selected for the finished facility.

Core Stack describes its network as suitable for demanding computing applications, including artificial intelligence. The company has not specified the rack densities or cooling method for the first projects, so those systems will have to be resolved as the individual designs progress.

Proximity to users also makes telecommunications infrastructure a central part of site selection. A data centre positioned near businesses only delivers lower latency if suitable fibre capacity and diverse network routes connect the facility to customers and the wider internet.

Separate routes can also improve resilience by reducing the risk that one damaged connection interrupts all external communications. The physical route of fibre ducts and the points where they enter a building therefore form part of the site engineering rather than being considered only after the data halls are complete.

Core Stack also states a preference for developing on disused or degraded sites. Brownfield land can reduce pressure for development on previously untouched ground, but it can introduce additional requirements where demolition, contamination, old foundations or inadequate utility infrastructure have to be addressed before construction starts.

The company’s model combines data centres with renewable energy developed on or around those sites where conditions allow. Electrical generation and digital infrastructure therefore have to be coordinated through the same development programme, including grid interfaces, land allocation and the route by which power reaches the data centre equipment.

Commissioning will be a critical stage at each facility because redundancy has to work under abnormal conditions as well as during normal operation. Backup power, cooling and controls must respond correctly when equipment fails or supply conditions change, and testing has to establish that those transfers occur without interrupting the computing load beyond the limits set by the design.

Building 13 facilities over four years also creates a programme level procurement challenge. Long lead electrical and mechanical equipment may have to be ordered across several sites, while changes in design or technology during the programme could affect later projects before the network is complete.

Cremona and Verona will provide the first test of that delivery model. The planned permitting timetable leaves development teams to resolve land, planning, electricity, telecommunications and building design before the first facilities can move into operation from early 2028, with later sites following as the network expands across Italy.