CyrusOne has broken ground on its first data center in Italy.

The company this week announced it has officially broken ground on MIL1 in Milan.

The three-story facility will offer 27MW of IT capacity across 7,000 sqm (75,345 sq ft) of technical space. The company has previously said the first phase will be live by Q3 2027.

“Milan is an increasingly important digital infrastructure market for Southern Europe, and this development marks a key milestone in our European growth strategy,” said Andreas Paduch, managing director, Europe at CyrusOne. “With MIL1, we are establishing a strong platform in Milan to support our customers’ long-term capacity and connectivity needs. This project is only possible through close collaboration with our partners, including the Municipality of Segrate and our wider delivery ecosystem, whose support and expertise are critical to bringing this development to fruition.”

CyrusOne announced plans for its debut Italian facility in Milan in December 2024, acquiring an 18.5-acre site in the Municipality of Segrate, East Milan. A second building, the 54MW MIL2, is also planned on the site.

MIL1 is designed to recover and reuse waste heat, initially for use within ancillary spaces on site, with the potential to supply a district heating network if available.

CyrusOne has gifted the Golfo Agricolo, a 700,000 parkland, to the Municipality of Segrate for community use. It is investing some €6 million ($6.94m) in local infrastructure improvements, including the redevelopment of Via delle Regioni into a “modern urban boulevard.”

“The start of construction on the CyrusOne data center marks a significant step in the development of Segrate and strengthens our city’s role as a leading hub for innovation and digital infrastructure,” said Paolo Micheli, Mayor of the Municipality of Segrate. “An investment of this magnitude enhances the area, as it finally allows for the regeneration of a vast, problematic industrial area that has been abandoned for decades, replacing it with a prestigious project with a lower environmental impact than previously considered alternatives.”

The campus is on the former CISE (Centro Informazioni Studi Esperienze) nuclear research site. CISE, founded in 1947, was an R&D center for nuclear power development. Italian energy firm Enel became CISE’s majority shareholder in the 1960s. The Segrate site was decommissioned in 2003. CyrusOne acquired the site from Europea2000.

KKR-owned CyrusOne has more than 50 data centers across the US and European markets. Across Europe, the company has data centers in operation or development across the major FLAPD markets of London, Dublin, Paris, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam, as well as Madrid.