DAMAC Digital and Vodafone Türkiye open first phase of Izmir data centre

DAMAC Digital and Vodafone Türkiye have inaugurated the first phase of a data centre in Izmir with initial capacity of 4 MW and a plan to scale to 20 MW, the companies said in a press release dated 7 September. They describe the site as the largest data centre in the Aegean region.

The release puts the investment in this facility at approximately US$100 million, and says the long-term partnership targets approximately US$300 million in total. The building spans 7,500 sq m and will accommodate more than 650 cabinets. The companies say it uses seismic isolation technology and a "scalable architecture designed to support advanced artificial intelligence workloads", with infrastructure intended to support next-generation GPU technologies for both traditional and generative AI. The release does not state a tier rating.

Türkiye's Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, attended the inauguration, according to the release. Hussain Sajwani, founder of DAMAC Group and chairman of DAMAC Digital, said that "advanced digital infrastructure will be fundamental to national competitiveness, innovation and sustainable growth." Engin Aksoy, chief executive of Vodafone Türkiye, said the facility was "Delivered in just one and half years."

A longer road to opening

Data Center Dynamics (DCD), which covered the opening on 14 September, reported that the partnership was announced in 2024 and that the facility was originally due to go live in the first quarter of 2025 before it was delayed. DCD also reported that the site was first planned to launch at 6 MW and grow to 12 MW, against the current target of 20 MW, and that it was first announced as a $100 million investment, with DAMAC Digital, formerly Edgnex, since confirming that total investment will reach $300 million.

The release itself says total investment is targeted to reach approximately US$300 million. Neither the release nor DCD's report gives a date for reaching 20 MW.

Vodafone's footprint and the location

DCD reported that this is Vodafone Türkiye's second data centre in Izmir and its sixth in the country, with two in Istanbul and one each in Izmir, Ankara and Adana. In the release, Aksoy said Vodafone Türkiye serves more than 25 million mobile customers, millions of small and medium-sized enterprises and thousands of large enterprises.

The companies cite the site's proximity to submarine cable landing stations connecting Europe, Africa and Asia as a key part of the investment case, and say it positions Izmir as an emerging data centre and connectivity hub for Türkiye and the wider Mediterranean region. The release does not name the cable systems concerned.

Where it sits in Türkiye's plans

The opening comes against a backdrop of larger announced plans. When Turkcell and Google Cloud announced a hyperscale cloud region for Türkiye in November 2025, the two were to invest a total of USD 3 billion, according to the Investment Office of the Presidency, with Google committing USD 2 billion over 10 years and Turkcell planning USD 1 billion. The Investment Office quoted Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır as saying "we will mobilize USD 10 billion in data center and AI investments by 2030."

DCD describes DAMAC Digital as the data centre arm of the UAE property firm DAMAC Group. It reported that the company holds a landbank of 6 GW across 35 sites in 13 countries, has live sites in Saudi Arabia and Thailand, broke ground on ten new sites in the first half of 2026, and targets more than 700 MW of operational capacity across more than 14 sites by the first quarter of 2027.

In the release, DAMAC Digital says it serves demand from hyperscalers, cloud providers, enterprises and AI-driven workloads. Neither the release nor DCD's report names a customer for the Izmir site.