European data center firm Hscale is expanding its footprint in Milan, Italy.

The Bain-backed company recently announced the closing of its second large-scale data center campus in Northwest Milan, around Settimo.

The transaction brings Hscale’s total committed power capacity in the area to 250MW, with ready-for-service dates in 2028. The firm said it would be investing some €2 billion ($2.32bn) into the projects.

The sites will be flexible and allow for air-cooled, direct liquid-cooled, or hybrid configurations.

MXP1, in West Milan, is due live in Q4 2027. MXP2, in East Milan, is due live in Q3 2028. The former will feature one 48MW building, while the latter will total 120MW across three buildings.

“We designed Hscale’s Milan campuses around a simple principle: the building should never be the bottleneck,” said Oliver Schiebel, CEO at Hscale. “Our base design is liquid-cooled first, built for the most demanding hyperscale and AI workloads, and can pivot to air-cooled traditional deployments in the same physical structure. No redesign, no additional capex. We design and build like this because we understand the long-term commitments our customers must make.”

Hscale said it has a partnership with Aquila Clean Energy, which provides integrated access to clean energy supplies rather than relying solely on standard power purchase agreements.

Hscale launched last year after Bain bought 80 percent of Aquila Group’s data center business, AQ Compute, in 2024.

It currently has one live 6MW facility – OSL1 – outside Oslo in Honefoss, Norway. This was previously owned and operated by AQ Compute.

Hscale is planning to expand further in Norway, as well as develop projects in Spain (Madrid and Barcelona), Germany (Frankfurt), Switzerland (Zurich), and Dubai. The firm claims a 1GW development pipeline.

Founded in 1984, Bain is a private investment firm with approximately $225bn in assets under management.