Ep. 34 - Inside the high-stakes race to keep Europe’s data at home, with Olivier Micheli

At the Datacloud Global Congress 2025 in Cannes, Olivier Micheli, President and CEO of privately held Data4, discussed the group’s €21.5 billion (US$24.5 billion) investment pipeline, Europe’s digital infrastructure outlook, and the company’s positioning amid rising global competition.

Micheli acknowledged the geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties that have shaped the industry in early 2025 but emphasised that fundamental demand drivers remain strong.

“In the last five or six months, the world has changed a lot. It creates uncertainty. Customers sign 10–15-year contracts, and they need certainty,” Micheli said. “However, data volumes continue to double every three years, business cloud is growing, and generative AI is still a strong driver. So, overall, the demand for data centres remains very robust.”

Micheli confirmed that Data4’s current development programme is backed by a committed €21.5 billion (US$24.5 billion) capital plan, one of the largest among European operators. Roughly €15 billion (US$17.1 billion) of that amount will be invested in France, with the remainder allocated across existing markets including Spain, Italy, Poland, and Greece.

“France offers significant competitive advantages. It has available power, low carbon emissions due to nuclear generation, and lower electricity costs compared to Germany or Italy,” Micheli said. “We are focusing our capital on existing markets and building both capacity and resilience.”

The company’s current rollout includes a 500MW digital hub in the southern Paris region. This comprises the established Paris 1 campus (250MW) and a new Paris 3 site (250MW), forming one of the largest digital clusters in Europe. A separate gigawatt-scale project in northern France is also underway, with construction planned through to the 2030s.

Additionally, Micheli addressed the challenges Europe faces in attracting and supporting AI infrastructure, particularly in comparison to North America.

“For the training part of generative AI, you need access to cheap and available power. In the US, you get that in one to three years. In many parts of Europe, it takes five to ten years,” he said. “So the AI workloads are going to the US. But Europe still needs infrastructure to support its 500 million citizens.”

While AI training workloads may remain in North America, Micheli argued that inference workloads and broader cloud services must reside in Europe to serve local user bases and ensure data compliance.

Micheli was cautious about data centres being officially recognised as an “electricity-intensive industry,” which could lead to increased regulation. “The sector is growing faster than others and will be one of the top consumers of power globally,” he said. “We must be careful. If the industry is classified as a utility, it could face heavy regulation — and regulation often limits innovation.”

Sustainability remains one of the core pillars of Data4’s corporate strategy. Micheli described several initiatives underway to reduce the environmental footprint of the company’s operations. A notable innovation is the use of algae farms to absorb CO₂ and reuse waste heat from data centres. 

Elsewhere, data sovereignty is emerging as a central issue in Europe’s digital agenda. Micheli underlined that a distributed and competitive infrastructure network is essential to support the continent’s ambition for digital independence.

“Europe must have the best infrastructure across all its markets — not just in one location,” he said. “It’s a critical component of sovereignty.”

He also noted that as regulatory requirements for data localisation increase, the demand for local infrastructure will only grow — both from public institutions and private sector clients.

Asked whether an initial public offering (IPO) was on the horizon, Micheli said Data4 is not currently considering a listing but acknowledged that it could be a longer-term possibility.

“At the moment, no — we’re in a high-growth phase and need the flexibility to invest,” he said. “Once we are more stabilised, when we’re perhaps at €20 or €30 billion market cap, then it may become relevant.”

He also commented on the broader industry trend: “A lot of platforms are becoming too large for traditional private equity. Public markets might be the next step to monetise those assets.”