Mobility and in the market real estate data center investments launched by major technology companies create. One of the last such transactions took place between the American Digital Realty and craftsman active in the production and import of carpets and rugs. According to information from “K”the American company has acquired the premises of the carpet company located on Agia Marina Avenue in the industrial area (VIPE) of Koropi. These include three buildings with a total area of approximately 4,000 sq.m. where the company’s central warehouses, offices and showroom were located.
This area will be used by the American company for the implementation of its investment plans for the creation of new data centers in Koropi, where the rest of its data centers are located. In Koropi, the company’s portfolio includes data centers ATH1, ATH2, ATH 3 and ATH4, which is under construction and will soon include the planned ATH5. The last two, namely ATH4 and ATH 5, are the company’s most recent additions and represent an investment of a total value of 200 million euros.
Koropi University of Applied Sciences will host two of the total three data centers planned to be developed by Microsoft, through the subsidiary Microsoft Operations 4733, in Greece. For the first of the three, which will be built in Spata industrial park (place Petra Gialos – Voulias – Prokalisi), the procedures are at an advanced stage. Already, that is, the tender for the selection of a contractor is being completed, with the construction of the first data center of the American company claiming the GEK TERNA with the Italian multinational group Renco, the Actor and its sustainable development projects sector Mytileneos. It is worth noting that the area in Spata, where Microsoft will develop the data center, belonged to Lambda Developmentwhich in 2021 proceeded to sell it for 14 million euros to the technology company.
According to an earlier report by the real estate consulting company NAI React, data centers are divided into two categories: those that are used by companies and those that are offered for colocation. In the first case, data centers are built and owned by large technology companies, such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, etc.
In the second case, colocation data centers are owned by data center service providers (e.g. Digital Realty) who lease the space to one or more users. It is common practice for technology companies to operate their own data centers and at the same time lease space from data center service providers. For example, Microsoft leases data centers from many different data service providers, such as Digital Realty. According to the data center cost index of the consulting firm Turner & Townsend, Greece is among the cheapest countries, after India and Colombia, with the relative cost – calculated in dollars per Watt – being placed at around 6.5 euros.
