Start Campus - Sines Data Center Campus (SINES01)

Status: Under Construction / Phase 1 Operational   |   Location: ZILS (Sines Industrial and Logistics Zone), Sines, Portugal

Project Overview

The Start Campus Sines Data Center Campus is one of the most ambitious and transformative data center projects globally, positioning Portugal's Sines Industrial and Logistics Zone (ZILS) as a new, major digital gateway between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The project, announced with a staggering €8.5 Billion EUR investment, is planned to achieve a groundbreaking 1.2 Gigawatt (GW) of critical IT load across up to six massive data center buildings (SIN01 to SIN06). This makes it Europe's largest planned colocation campus and a direct response to the global demand for Gigascale infrastructure needed for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and High-Performance Computing (HPC) workloads. The first building, SIN01, became operational in April 2025, significantly boosting Portugal's existing data center capacity.

The project's design is centered around sustainability and resource efficiency, which are its main competitive advantages. It operates entirely on 100% renewable energy sourced from Portugal’s electrical grid, aligning with Europe's net-zero mandates. Crucially, the campus is pioneering the large-scale use of seawater cooling technology. By utilizing existing seawater intake and outfall infrastructure from the adjacent decommissioned Sines coal power plant, the facility achieves an ultra-low PUE of 1.1 without consuming any potable water for cooling—a vital solution for addressing water scarcity issues plaguing other major European data center hubs.

The strategic location of Sines, situated on the Atlantic coast, is pivotal. It is a major hub for new subsea cable landings, including the massive 2Africa cable system, which will provide ultra-low latency connectivity to Europe, Brazil, and key African markets. This makes the campus an ideal landing station for hyperscalers and international enterprises looking to establish a geographically resilient and highly connected presence outside of the constrained FLAP (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris) markets. The campus is designed with Tier III+ equivalent reliability and is projected to take 10 to 15 years for its full 1.2 GW capacity to be deployed, reflecting a long-term vision for shaping Europe's digital future as a sustainable and well-connected powerhouse.

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