By News Centre
A major investment in Türkiye’s digital infrastructure has been launched with the groundbreaking ceremony for the Ankara Temelli Data Center in Ankara Başkent Organized Industrial Zone (OSB). The project, developed through a partnership between Rönesans Holding and Digital Realty, will feature high-capacity servers and advanced cooling systems, enabling large-scale data storage, artificial intelligence (AI) applications and cloud computing services.
The facility will also enable international technology companies to deliver services to customers from Türkiye.
The investment will be completed in three phases. The first phase will focus on construction and infrastructure development, with $450 million allocated for these works. This will be followed by $900 million in technology investments from service provider companies, which will equip the center with powerful servers, data storage systems and cooling infrastructure.
The first phase will provide more than 22 megawatts (MW) of information technology capacity. Approximately 10,000 square meters of the facility are scheduled to become operational in 2028.
Following the completion of the initial section, the project will advance to its second and third phases, expanding the campus through additional infrastructure and technology investments. Once all three phases are completed, the total investment in Ankara is expected to reach $4.1 billion.
The project is targeted for completion within three years. It is also expected to create new employment opportunities for Ankara residents and contribute to the local economy through technical staffing requirements and the procurement of services once operations begin. The investment will support technology development and the creation of skilled jobs.
Data centers around the world serve a wide range of applications, including banking transactions, internet services, digital government platforms, artificial intelligence and big data analytics. Companies can lease server and storage capacity from these facilities to support their operations.
Processing data at facilities located closer to end users also helps reduce latency and improve the performance of digital services. The investment in Türkiye is expected to expand access to data processing and storage services, strengthening the country's digital infrastructure.
As part of the broader investment program, the partnership also plans to establish a new data center campus in Deliklikaya, Istanbul. The groundbreaking ceremony for the facility is scheduled for February 2027, and the campus will have a planned capacity of 120 MW.
Rönesans Holding is expected to invest $1.7 billion in the Istanbul project, while service provider companies will contribute a further $3.5 billion in technology investments. The total investment in Istanbul is projected to reach $5.2 billion.
The partnership's long-term objective is to establish a total of 200 MW of data center capacity across Türkiye, positioning the country to serve growing demand for cloud computing, AI infrastructure and digital services.
One of the key indicators used to measure a data center's scale is its power capacity, expressed in megawatts. This figure indicates the amount of electrical power available to servers and other information technology equipment within the facility. Higher capacity enables operators to deploy more servers and support systems that require greater computing power, including advanced AI applications and large-scale data processing workloads.