Start Campus has launched its SIN01 data center in Sines, Portugal.

It is the first building at the company's flagship campus.

Announced in a recent LinkedIn post, the company said: “AI is now a reality in Portugal, and we are proud to be at the forefront of this transformation. Our project has enabled a new global data center market that did not exist before SIN01 became operational

“Portugal is an ideal alternative to constrained markets, with abundant renewable energy, grid access, competitive power pricing, and a purpose-built supply chain.”

SIN01 is part of Start Campus’ planned six-building campus. In August last year, Start Campus secured power to bring the total potential IT capacity of the campus to 1.2GW.

At the time, SIN01 was projected to have a capacity of 14MW, expandable to 26MW, but it is unclear if this is still the case.

Other specifications have also yet to be shared, however, when construction began in April 2022, Start Campus said SIN01 would span 5,000 sqm (53,800 sq ft) across six data halls.

The campus will use Nautilus cooling technology, which can leverage surrounding seawater for a more environmentally friendly cooling solution.

In September last year, Internet exchange operator DE-CIX said it would be offering its interconnection and cloud services from Start Campus’ Sines facility.

Start Campus faced several challenges when it was involved in a corruption scandal that brought down the Portuguese government and saw several Start Campus executives arrested amid investigations of alleged “misuse of funds, active and passive corruption by political figures, and influence peddling.”

Since then, the charges against former CEO Afonso Salema have been dropped. Robert Dunn is now the permanent CEO at Start Campus, having served as the interim CEO since November 2023.

The majority of data centers in Portugal have been concentrated in the capital city of Lisbon, around 90km from Sines. AtlasEdge, Claranet, Edged, Tata Communications, and Equinix all have a presence in the region.

Sines is also home to the EllaLink subsea cable, with the Medusa, New CAM Ring, Nuvem, and Olisipo cables set to join in the coming years.