October the 15th, 2026 – In what way will Croatia actually concretely benefit from the giant €50 billion data centre in Topusko that has many deeply concerned about the environment and water?
The previously announced construction of the huge and very controversial Pantheon data centre in Topusko, whose value is estimated at as much as €50 billion, raises a series of questions about the real benefits Croatia could gain from such an investment. Vedran Salvia reports for Index that this gigantic project recently took another step towards realisation. Sisak-Moslavina County has initiated amendments to the spatial plan in order to create the conditions for the construction of the centre and the accompanying infrastructure.
Although a series of procedures and the obtaining of the necessary permits still lie ahead before construction can begin, below we provide answers to some of the key questions about the project, its possible benefits and costs. For the purposes of this text we also received an expert comment from Tomislav Vazdar, an expert in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
intended for large tech companies with little care for anyone else
According to Ryan Rich, executive partner of Pantheon AI, who wrote about the project for the Wall Street Journal, the centre is intended for large technology companies that need enormous computing capacity for continuous operation and the development of artificial intelligence. Rich also stated that the infrastructure would be available to European defence, intelligence and commercial users.
Pantheon representatives were asked about who specifically will use the future data centre and whether there are already agreed tenants, but we had not received a reply by the time this text was published. Project manager Mario Gudelj explained to Večernji list in July that the final value of the investment will depend on the requirements of future users, whom he described as large technology companies developing artificial intelligence. According to the announcements at the time, the first users should start using the centre’s capacities at the beginning of 2029.
Vazdar explained to us who the most common users of such data centres are. “The largest users are global cloud service providers, companies developing large artificial intelligence models, and increasingly the defence and security sector. In a centre of this scale, AI models would primarily be trained and run. Money is earned by renting out capacity, most often through long-term contracts with a few large clients,” Vazdar commented for Index.
is there any benefit to anyone outside of big tech?
Part of the investment will relate to construction works and infrastructure, and a significant part to the purchase of computer and other technological equipment. The value of the campus construction is estimated at up to €12 billion, while the total investment, including IT equipment, should exceed €50 billion. One of the possible long-term benefits is the construction of electricity infrastructure. In addition to the construction of a 500-megawatt solar power plant, for which cooperation with the international energy group Greenvolt has been announced, according to project representatives’ announcements, the construction of approximately 280 kilometres of power lines and a new substation is planned, and the investment would be financed by the investor.
The built infrastructure should then pass into the ownership of the Croatian Transmission System Operator. “The benefits won’t come by themselves; all of that has to be contracted in advance. So, a share of capacity for domestic companies, universities and the public sector, engagement of domestic contractors and investment in the network that remains with the state. Equally important is control over the data. If data is processed in Croatia but control over it remains outside the European legal framework, the state bears the risk and does not gain digital sovereignty,” Vazdar said.
are there any benefits for croatian companies?
One of the concrete opportunities for Croatian companies is linked precisely to the construction of the mentioned electricity infrastructure. At the end of April, Končar signed a non-binding letter of intent on cooperation on the Pantheon project, which envisages the participation of several companies from its group, including Dalekovod. One of the investors, entrepreneur Jako Andabak, claimed on HRT back in April that the majority of the works during the construction and equipping of the centre should be carried out by Croatian companies, using domestic knowledge and workforce.
what about new employment opportunities?
As announced at the project presentation, more than 3,000 workers should be engaged during construction, around 1,500 people employed after the centre starts operating, while the project could indirectly contribute to the creation of a further 6,000 jobs. Andabak stated that approximately half of the 1,500 permanently employed should have higher education qualifications. That would mean around 750 highly qualified jobs, primarily linked to the operation and maintenance of complex technological infrastructure.
It is not yet known how many of the employees will be from Croatia, and especially how many jobs could go to residents of Topusko and the surrounding area. “The most jobs are created during construction, and once the centre is up and running there are few permanent employees, although these are highly qualified positions. Realistic expectations should be based on signed commitments, not on announcements,” Vazdar said.
how will pantheon help croatia’s own tech sector?
One of the potentially greatest long-term benefits of the project could be the development of Croatia’s technology sector, especially companies dealing with artificial intelligence. Large computing capacities are needed for the development and training of advanced artificial intelligence models, and access to such infrastructure could open new opportunities for domestic companies, universities and research institutions.
Project manager Mario Gudelj spoke to N1 in May about the ambition for Pantheon to bring the industry of the future to Croatia and position it among the leading countries in digital transformation. Vazdar said more about the importance of Pantheon for the development of artificial intelligence and the domestic technology sector. “The significance is potentially great, but only with clear access conditions for domestic companies and scientists. Without that, the centre can operate at full capacity for foreign clients, while the domestic sector gets almost nothing from it,” he added.
how much will the state and the local community benefit financially?
In addition to employment and the engagement of domestic companies, one of the more important potential benefits of the Pantheon project relates to tax and other public revenues. The Municipality of Topusko has particularly high expectations. Its mayor Ivica Kuzmić stated on HRT in May that the realisation of the project could increase the municipality’s revenues three to four times. He emphasised that the additional funds would primarily be used to improve communal infrastructure.
However, a detailed financial projection showing how much the state and the Municipality of Topusko would earn annually from the centre’s operations has not yet been publicly presented. The amount of tax revenues will depend, among other things, on the centre’s business results, the number and salaries of employees, and the way in which the business of the companies involved in the project is organised.
will electricity prices shoot up?
One of the more important questions relates to the high consumption of electricity and water and the possible consequences for the general public, for whom a giant data centre represents little but a deep worry. As Gudelj announced, Pantheon in full operation would consume around five terawatt-hours of electricity per year, 1.5 times more than Zagreb and a little more than a quarter of Croatia’s consumption.
However, he stated that electricity would not become more expensive for citizens because of the centre. According to his announcements, the centre would primarily be supplied from renewable sources, and the investor would also finance the necessary electricity infrastructure. “A data centre of this scale consumes as much electricity as a large city, and continuously. That means great pressure on the electricity system and a risk that the cost of adapting the network will spill over onto all users if the rules are not set in advance,” Vazdar adds.
“Cooling data centres down also requires significant amounts of water, so it is necessary to transparently determine how that will affect local sources. All of this must be publicly and independently assessed before any decision,” Vazdar says.
data centres and their devastating environmental impact
The impact of Pantheon on the environment is a separate and extremely important topic that deserves an analysis of its own. We have already written about this in detail on Index, and here we will only recall that part of the public is mainly concerned about the high water consumption, noise, waste heat, interventions in the space and potential consequences for the local ecosystem.
Vazdar warns for Index that cooling a data centre requires significant amounts of water, which is why it is necessary to transparently determine the possible impact on local sources and to assess everything publicly and independently before any decision is made. Gudelj says that the final solution has not yet been chosen. Pantheon, as he emphasised, will not connect to the public water supply or use water from rivers and streams, and hydrogeological research is being carried out. Earlier, the investors claimed to Index that the impact on the environment would be negligible or non-existent. In any case, the strategic environmental impact assessment and the assessment of acceptability for the ecological network are only part of the procedures that must precede construction. Therefore it still remains to be determined what consequences the project could have for the environment and what protection measures will be necessary.
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