Strong Arab interest in data center investments in Greece

There is strong interest from theArabian Peninsula in investing in data centers in Greece,which is considered to be an important telecommunications hub. The Ministry of Digital Governance is preparing to proceed with major deal signings that will digitally shield the country and certify Greece’s change of track in the data traffic market.

There will then be a memorandum of understanding signed in Abu Dhabi with the United Arab Emirates for the establishment of a data center in Greece. According to sources, over the past two months there has been strong interest from the Arab side in setting up a data center in Greece.

They note that the Arabs arevery positive to run the investments and see Greece as a very safe country for investment. The Arab side seems to recognize Greece’s role in the technology and telecommunications sector in the wider region of Southeast Europe and the Mediterranean and is seeking to strengthen investment relations in these fields.

The Arab interest follows on from the major US investments in the data centre market and confirms once again the strategic position of the country, which can become a regional hub for the movement of data. This is also an expressed objective of the government, which has taken initiatives to further enhance the country’s position, as data centre investments are coming to coincide with those in the cable sector.

At the same time, there will also be discussions on the progress of theprojects concerning the East to Med data Corridor cable, which has started from Saudi Arabia and will pass through Crete and comes to “button up” with the investments in data centers.

The €800 million project, which is expected to be completed in 2025, is being carried out by an Arab company and involves PPC, which took the share of CYTA, which was originally going to participate. The Greek part of the project will be financed by Greek banks.

The “East to Med data Corridor”, will be developed by MENA HUB, owned by STC of Saudi Arabia and the Greek telecommunications and satellite applications company TTSA. The joint venture between Saudi Arabia and Greece will lead to the installation of a data transmission cable between Greece as the Eastern Data Gateway of the European Union and Saudi Arabia as the Regional Digital Hub between Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.

TheEMC project enables the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Greeceto leverage their geographical location, creating the much needed new data corridor for the global economy, placing the countries at the heart of data transfer, storage and data creation in Eurasia, through the creation of a digital connectivity infrastructure between the countries, which is the cornerstone of the digital transformation era.

The data centers that are changing the position of Greece

Greece is estimated to be one of the places where data traffic will double in the next two and a half years, as together with Bulgaria and Turkey they are very important destinations for the expansion of Europe’s telecommunications network. These 3 countries in total, in 2023 Telegeography estimates that they will run 123 TB of internet traffic capacity and traffic is expected to grow at a rate of 31.5% per year.

However, inthe next five years,investments are expected to reach $1.2 billion (€1.1 billion) from big names such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.

Digital Realty and Greek Lancomare also expanding their footprint in the neutral data center market, while giants such as EXA Infrastructure are putting Greece at the center of their planning, intensifying their presence

Market growth in the country is set to be explosive, as data centres will reach 24 in number with total capacity reaching 139MW from 34MW today, with Greece becoming a data hub connecting Africa, the Middle East and Asia to Europe.