Maria Carolina Gonçalves and Tomás Mendonça Viçoso write article on Portugal’s strategic positioning in the data centre sector

Maria Carolina Gonçalves and Tomás Mendonça Viçoso are the authors of the article From the Cloud to the Cable Centre: Navigating Portugal’s Data Centre Real Estate Landscape, published in the 2025 edition of Iberian Property. The piece focuses on Portugal’s growing role in the international digital infrastructure landscape and explores the key strategic and legal factors influencing the decision to build or lease a data centre in the country.

In the article, the authors highlight the unique combination of competitive advantages that make Portugal an increasingly attractive destination for data centre investment: access to renewable energy, relatively low operational costs, and the presence of international submarine cable landings. While most projects remain concentrated in Lisbon and Porto, other regions such as Covilhã and Sines are gaining traction — the latter emerging as a potential transatlantic connectivity hub.

The analysis delves into the benefits and risks associated with developing a data centre from scratch — such as full control over the technological infrastructure and the ability to sublet unused capacity — while also addressing the challenges posed by high upfront investment, strategic uncertainty and complex regulatory requirements.

The authors also draw attention to the increasing legal complexity in the sector, with a particular focus on matters such as urban planning, environmental licensing, sustainable energy procurement and compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Emphasising the importance of specialised legal advice from the outset of each project, the article argues that close cooperation between policymakers, operators and legal advisors is essential to ensure the sector’s sustainability and competitiveness.

Read the full article in the attachment below.