Lisbon, Oct. 21, 2025 (Lusa) - The data centre sector will contribute €3.7 billion to Portugal's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2031, according to a study by Portugal DC and Pb7 Research.
According to the document released on Tuesday, called Data Centres Market Outlook - 2025, it is predicted that “the sector's contribution to GDP will rise from the €160 million recorded in 2024 to €3.7 billion in 2031”.
In terms of jobs, the data centre sector is already responsible for 2,800 direct and indirect jobs. However, it is expected to contribute around 9,400 jobs by 2031.
With regard to investment, the study anticipates cumulative investment of around €13 billion by 2031, covering "both greenfield development and remodelling, especially in the Lisbon and Sines areas and in the other emerging regions".
"Almost all facilities are powered by electricity and increasingly use energy from renewable sources, thanks to the country's supply of green energies," the document reads.
However, the increase in energy consumption, "which is expected to reach 8.5 TWh by 2031, requires careful planning with a view to avoiding future congestion of the electricity grid and ensuring that growth is sustainable".
The total energy supply for information technology (IT) is also expected to grow more than 40 times, reaching 1.5 GW.
The availability of renewable energy and land in Portugal makes the country particularly attractive for this type of operation, especially when compared to the congested centres of Northern Europe.
"Campuses with high energy capacity in the order of gigawatts, such as the Start Campus in Sines, represent the new wave of data infrastructures," it reads.
With Portugal's "privileged" geographical location on the Atlantic coast, combined with dense fibre optic networks and submarine cable infrastructure, the country is positioned as "a unique “digital gateway”, with the capacity to connect Europe to the Americas, Africa and Asia".
The study is the result of "extensive documentary research to create a solid database on data centres, making it possible to identify the main trends and developments in the sector".
This base served as a "starting point for the creation of models that quantify the data centre market and its social and economic impact".
The work will be published in a book that will be publicly presented on 23 October at the Portugal Digital Summit in Lisbon.
AJR/ADB // ADB.
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