A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Monday for a mega data center complex in the Başkent Organized Industrial Zone in the Turkish capital, Ankara, marking a significant milestone in the country's efforts to become a regional digital hub.
The new facility is the result of a joint venture between Ankara-based Rönesans Holding, one of the major Turkish contractors and global data center operator Digital Realty.
Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır, who addressed the ceremony, said that the initial facility will require a $450 million investment in basic infrastructure and building construction, while an additional $900 million will be allocated to cooling systems and IT infrastructure.
"Once all phases are complete, this facility will represent a fixed capital investment of $4.1 billion in the Ankara Temelli Başkent Organized Industrial Zone," he said.
'Oil of the 21st century'
Kacır referred to data processing and cloud computing capabilities as "the oil of the 21st century," highlighting the growing importance of technology in the modern global arena.
"The total installed capacity of data centers worldwide is expected to rise from around 103 gigawatts last year to 200 gigawatts by 2030," he noted, adding that over one-fifth of the total value of new global investments has been made in data centers.
The minister also recalled that Ankara launched the HIT-30 program to allocate $30 billion in incentives through 2030 to attract high-tech investments and support the cloud computing and technology that AI applications require.
He noted that Türkiye started a new chapter in technology development and production through its National Technology Initiative, which highlights digital sovereignty as integral to independence.
"We implemented a comprehensive support framework to develop data center and cloud computing capacity and attract global investments," he also said.
"We have benefited more than 8,900 researchers to date through the Turkish Science e-Infrastructure (TRUBA), enhancing the country's high-performance computing infrastructure with over 80,000 processor cores, 504 graphics processing units (GPUs) and 26 petabytes of data storage capacity," he furthered.
The minister also mentioned that the HIT-30 program, the largest-scale incentive package in the nation's history, includes the "HIT-Data Center Call" scheme, dedicating a $1.4 billion budget to supporting the construction of data centers of at least 30 megawatts, while the "HIT-Artificial Intelligence Call" mobilizes $1.6 billion to accelerate the establishment of domestic cloud-based infrastructure.
Ankara's broader strategy was also detailed in the 2026-2030 Türkiye Artificial Intelligence Action Plan, which aims to expand installed data center capacity, with a national goal of at least 1 gigawatt by 2030.
"We will facilitate access to high-performance chips for entrepreneurs and researchers through the 'GPU for Everyone' program to bring together scientists, tech startups and investors within a comprehensive AI ecosystem supported by strong infrastructure," the minister noted.
Kacır added that Rönesans Holding and Digital Realty are expected to play a key role in reaching this goal, as the two firms plan to lead a combined investment of more than $10 billion in Ankara and Istanbul to establish a projected data center capacity of 200 megawatts, making up one-fifth of the national goal.