Polski
CEE on the Rise: 51 New Data Centers and Poland's Sovereign AI Cloud
The Central and Eastern European region is experiencing a genuine investment boom in data center infrastructure, with Poland increasingly staking its claim within it. In this review, we look at what fresh market figures reveal about the scale of this expansion, and examine a specific domestic investment set to power a sovereign AI cloud.
01 · Market & Investment
The CEE Region to Grow by 51 New Data Centers [1]
A recent market report sheds light on the scale of data center infrastructure expansion in Central and Eastern Europe. The authors counted 290 existing facilities and as many as 51 more either under construction or in the planning stage - bringing the region's total portfolio to 341 data centers. The analysis covers Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Russia, and beyond the sheer number of facilities, it includes data on available capacity, colocation service pricing, and market development forecasts stretching all the way to 2031.
The most interesting finding concerns the balance of power within the region. In terms of existing infrastructure, Russia still leads, yet it is Poland together with Russia that jointly account for over 40 percent of the region's planned new IT capacity. In other words - while Russia currently holds the advantage in built infrastructure scale, the direction of the coming years is being set by new investments, in which Poland plays one of the leading roles. For investors and operators, this kind of breakdown serves as a practical tool for capacity planning, service pricing, and competitive analysis across individual markets. For industry observers, in turn, it confirms that the wave of investment in CEE is only just gaining momentum, and that Poland has a real chance to move up from an emerging market to one of the region's leaders.
02 · AI Cloud
Polcom Is Building a Data Center for Poland's AI Cloud [2]
The scale of this trend is well illustrated by the decision of Poznań-based Polcom, which announced the construction of a new data center in Skawina worth PLN 150 million. The facility is ultimately expected to reach a capacity of up to 40 MW and house six server chambers designed for power densities of up to 150 kW per rack - figures that until recently were associated exclusively with the most advanced AI computing clusters. The investment's launch is planned for 2030, showing that the company is designing it with a multi-year horizon for AI service growth in mind, rather than simply catching up with short-term demand.
The new infrastructure is intended to power Polcom AI Cloud, a sovereign cloud platform in which both the infrastructure itself and the models and training data remain under Polish jurisdiction. The company also stresses a shift in how such investments are thought about: what matters now is no longer raw capacity expressed in megawatts, but cooling and power efficiency and data location. This approach fits into a broader, European trend toward digital independence and technological sovereignty - and shows that Polish operators are not merely observing the global race for AI infrastructure, but actively taking part in it, building an alternative to services from outside the European Union.
Summary
Summary
The data from the CEE region and the concrete example of Polcom show two sides of the same coin: on one hand, a measurable, dynamic increase in the number of data centers in the region, and on the other, a qualitative shift in how they are designed, where cooling and power efficiency and data sovereignty now matter just as much as raw computing power. Want to talk about these trends with the people building this infrastructure day to day? Join us at DATA CENTER Expo Poland - Targi Technologii i Infrastruktury dla Branży Data Center, where you'll meet investors, operators, and providers of cooling, power, and security solutions for the next generation of data centers.
Invitation
The CEE region is growing at a pace of 51 new data centers, and Polish companies like Polcom are already betting on sovereign infrastructure for AI - see these trends up close at DATA CENTER Expo Poland. You'll meet investors, operators, and providers of cooling, power, and security technology who are building this new wave of infrastructure. Join the conversation about the future of data centers in the region.
DATA CENTER Expo Poland 2026Footnotes
[1] GlobeNewswire (Research and Markets) — https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/09/21/3365226/28124/en/central-eastern-europe-cee-existing-upcoming-data-center-report-2026-portfolio-expands-as-new-developments-unlock-growth-opportunities.html[2] CRN.pl — https://crn.pl/aktualnosci/polcom-inwestuje-150-mln-zl-w-nowe-centrum-danych