Cascais Hosts Global Submarine Cable Summit as Portugal Positions Itself at Centre of Digital Infrastructure Boom

More than 350 global executives from the submarine cable, data centre, satellite, and AI sectors will gather in Cascais from 13 to 15 April for the Subsea, Digital Infra & Satellite Summit (SIS 2026) — a three-day conference that underscores Portugal's rapid emergence as a strategic hub for the world's digital infrastructure.

The summit, organised by Carrier Community, brings together decision-makers from fibre connectivity, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. It is being held in Portugal for the first time, reflecting the country's growing weight in the transatlantic data corridor.

The Sines Factor

At the heart of Portugal's digital ambitions is Sines, the deep-water port town 150 kilometres south of Lisbon that has become one of Europe's most important submarine cable landing points.

The EllaLink cable, an 8,000-kilometre optical backbone connecting Europe directly to Latin America, lands at Sines. Google's Equiano cable to South Africa also terminates there. Several more — including Medusa, Nuvem, and Olisipo — are set to arrive in the coming years, cementing the town's role as a bridge between Europe, the Americas, and Africa.

The Fortaleza-Lisbon-US East Coast corridor has reduced transmission times between Europe and Brazil by an estimated 50 per cent.

EUR 13 Billion in Data Centre Investment by 2031

The cable infrastructure has attracted a wave of data centre investment. According to a study by PortugalDC and Pb7 Research published in October 2025, investments exceeding EUR 13 billion are expected by 2031, driven by hyperscalers, colocation providers, and AI infrastructure companies.

IT power supply capacity is forecast to increase roughly 40 times, reaching approximately 1.5 gigawatts by 2031. The sector's contribution to GDP is expected to jump from EUR 160 million in 2024 to EUR 3.7 billion, with employment surpassing 9,400 jobs.

The centrepiece is Start Campus, a joint venture between US fund Davidson Kempner and UK-based Pioneer Point Partners, which plans to invest EUR 8.5 billion by 2030 in a data centre campus at Sines comprising six buildings with 1.2 gigawatts of IT capacity. The first facility, SIN01, became operational in January 2025.

Microsoft's EUR 8.6 Billion Bet

In November 2025, Microsoft announced a EUR 8.6 billion investment in AI data centres at Sines — described as one of the largest AI investment projects in Europe. The deal, announced by Microsoft Vice Chair Brad Smith at Web Summit in Lisbon, involves a partnership with Start Campus, British AI infrastructure platform Nscale, and NVIDIA.

The project will deploy 12,600 next-generation NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra GB300 GPUs — the first installation of this hardware in the European Union.

"By strengthening the national AI infrastructure through collaboration with Nscale, NVIDIA, and Start Campus, we are helping to position Portugal as a benchmark for the responsible and scalable development of AI in Europe," Smith said.

Government Backs the Boom

The government has moved to capitalise on the momentum. A Council of Ministers plan from March 2026 simplified licensing processes and created pre-approved development zones for data centres. AICEP, the national investment agency, has been designated as a single point of contact for investors. Anacom, the telecoms regulator, is set to assume oversight of AI, data centres, and submarine cables.

In March 2026, Digital Realty — the world's largest cloud and carrier-neutral data centre platform — acquired a facility in Lisbon, its first entry into the Portuguese market, describing the capital as "Europe's Atlantic gateway."

Portugal's high share of renewable energy — over 80 per cent of electricity came from clean sources in January 2026 — gives it a competitive edge in powering the energy-intensive facilities that the AI boom demands.

Sources: ECO, Observador, Reuters, PortugalDC/Pb7 Research