The region of Lombardy, Italy, which has Milan as its capital, just approved a 100% tax on data center developments in rural areas and a 200% tax for those being built in agricultural and green zones. According to the Italian news outlet Il Sole 24 Ore, the law was designed to discourage hyperscalers from buying up rural tracts of land for projects like these, which Lombardy leaders say are often done “without clear timeframes and plans.”
“We cannot, in the light of these numbers, block the development of companies and employment, the race for artificial intelligence is already a fact,” Lombardy councilor Massimo Sertori told the publication. “We can, however, try to keep the phenomenon under control by avoiding excesses and the exaggerated exploitation of the territory.”
It seems that even data center developers in Europe have started gaining interest in rural land. Even though these are often less developed compared to urban and suburban areas, it also usually comes with fewer restrictions, are cheaper to build on, and might even have a faster permitting process. One Texas county noticed this and has taken steps to limit AI hyperscalers’ ambitions while the county government is studying their potential impact on rural land. On the other hand, Italian lawmakers are hoping that the law will push developers toward disused industrial zones. These areas are typically built for operations like these, and there are no additional burdens for AI data center developers who choose to build here instead.
Aside from land use, Lombardy officials also have concerns about energy use. Sertori said that data center applications have now reached up to 30GW throughout Italy, with more than half of them planned to be situated in the region. However, they should only authorize 2GB based on “real and concrete projects.” At the moment, Milan hosts 33 active data centers, with 10 more in the construction stage and 23 more applying for approvals. This makes Lombardy the region with the highest concentration of data centers in Italy.
The data center buildout needed to power the “AI revolution” is quickly becoming a hot topic in the United States. Many Americans are pushing back against these developments, with a recent survey saying that 70% do not want a data center in the vicinity of their homes. While it doesn’t seem that Italians are pushing back with the same ferocity, their authorities are still concerned that unchecked data center development would have a negative impact on the community. Opposing politicians even voiced their concerns that this move is not enough.
“In Lombardy, we have tried to fill the void of the Meloni government on industrial policies. The development of data centers is necessary, but it cannot be left to chance or to the market alone; a political vision is needed,” Democrat Mattero Piloni said. “However, this law lacks real and decisive soil protection, because neither the government nor the region have put in place stringent constraints. We will have to wait for a national law.”
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