Equinix is supporting Portugal as a strategic hub for terrestrial and subsea cable networks by constructing its second IBX data centre in Lisbon. The new data centre, named LS2 International Business Exchange (IBX), will be located adjacent to Equinix’s existing LS1 site, forming a dynamic campus and a dense digital ecosystem.
This expansion will provide much-needed digital capacity to Portugal, enabling local businesses to grow and thrive while attracting international companies to leverage Platform Equinix in this strategically located hub for international networks and businesses.
Lisbon’s increasing significance as a subsea hub makes it an ideal location for Equinix’s new data centre.
The LS2 facility – representing an initial planned investment of around €50 million – will serve as a vital gateway to Europe from Africa as well as serving as a key connection point for data communications between the Latin America, Europe and North America.
Equinix’s global platform, comprising of 260 data centres worldwide, including key Atlantic and Mediterranean cities such as Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Genoa and Milan, will further strengthen the digital connectivity across Southern Europe.
“The surge in demand we are seeing from companies in Lisbon and across the Atlantic and Mediterranean makes this investment timely and significant,” said Carlos Paulino, Managing Director of Equinix in Portugal. “Lisbon has the potential to become a dense and valuable strategic hub, and we are delighted to contribute to its growth and position ourselves as the cornerstone of Europe.”
The new Equinix LS2 data centre in Lisbon, due to open in the first quarter of 2025, will create around 30 new direct and indirect high skilled jobs and will accommodate 2,050 square meters of colocation space, offering scalable technical space and fully redundant power supplies, that deliver leading operational resiliency and world-class security when fully built.
Together, the existing LS1 and the new LS2 Lisbon data centres will provide 2000+ cross-connections and network connectivity services for 100+ business customers, 45+ networks and four Internet Exchanges.
Equinix’s Lisbon sites offer customers the opportunity to be part of a highly connected digital ecosystem, including a dense mix of top global networks, cloud service providers, digital content companies, social media platforms and direct connectivity to all submarine cable landing stations in Portugal. Customers can leverage Equinix’s digital services – such as Equinix Fabric to build secure and scalable digital infrastructure rapidly.
The LS2 data centre is planned to be covered by 100% renewable energy and has achieved a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. As one of the first companies in the data centre industry to commit to becoming climate neutral globally by 2030, Equinix remains committed to reducing emissions and source clean and renewable energy for its global platform.
Judith Gardiner, Vice President for Growth and Emerging Markets at Equinix, emphasised the significance of addressing digital demand sustainably: “Equinix is committed to supporting the sustainable growth of the Internet to serve economies across the world. Lisbon has immense potential to become a valuable strategic hub for international businesses scaling their operations across Europe, the Americas and Africa. Our newest Lisbon IBX solidifies Equinix’s position as the leading connectivity provider for southern Europe, serving the world’s digital infrastructure needs beautifully.”
Enhancing Portugal’s role as a subsea cable hub
Since the beginning of international telecommunications, Portugal has been an important location on the global network map. The country was the first to have direct fibre connectivity to all continents. Today, there are 11 subsea cables landing in the Lisbon area, with connectivity to 91 land stations and 62 countries.
The new Equinix LS2 data centre in Lisbon will further enhance Portugal’s role as one of the key subsea cable hubs in the world. All subsea cables landing in the Lisbon area end-up in Equinix data centres in the Portuguese capital – including the EllaLink, from Portugal to Brazil (with 100Tbps); the Equiano, from Portugal to South Africa (owned by Google, with 144Tbps); the 2Africa, circumnavigating the African continent (owned by China Mobile, Meta, Orange, Vodafone, with 240Tbps); the Medusa System, crossing the Mediterranean (owned by an European consortium, with 480Tbps); or the Nuvem, from Portugal to the US (owned by Google, with 360Tbps).
Portugal’s strategic geographic position is ideal to serve as a hub between Southern Europe, Africa and Latin America:
- Regarding Africa, international Internet bandwidth into this continent grew at a CAGR of 44% between 2019 and 2023, the fastest growth of any continent by far. Nevertheless, today more than 850 million Africans still lack basic Internet connectivity. But the Equiano and 2Africa cable systems will help change that, providing the foundation for digital growth in Africa.
- Lisbon also plays a key role in driving digital growth in Latin America. The EllaLink cable system, launched in 2021, became the first cable to directly link Europe with South America, bypassing the US, simplifying data sovereignty issues and reducing latency.
- Lisbon has also a major role to play in the Mediterranean corridor, enhancing redundancy. That’s why the Medusa cable system is scheduled to connect Lisbon with Egypt, with branches landing in various European and North African markets along the way. When it launches in 2025, Medusa will be the first new cable system between Lisbon and the Mediterranean in more than 15 years.
