On October 3, after a meeting between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Microsoft President Brad Smith in Rome, Italy, the "big guy" in the technology sector Microsoft announced a plan to invest 4.3 billion euros (about 4.74 billion USD) to develop artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and cloud data centers in Italy.
Accordingly, this is Microsoft's largest investment plan in Italy, expected to help enhance the country's position as a digital hub in the Mediterranean.
This is quite in line with Italy's priorities in the field of AI technology in the year the country took on the role of Chair of the Group of Developing Industrial Countries (G7).
According to the plan, the new data center will be located in Milan, Northern Italy, to provide services to the entire markets of the Mediterranean and North Africa regions. When officially put into operation, this data center will be among Microsoft's largest data centers in Europe.
The plan also includes a training program to help improve the "AI proficiency" of 1 million Italian people by the end of next year.
In addition, according to Italian media, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also had a private meeting with leaders of major technology companies such as Alphabet (goal parent company of Google) and OpenAI last week, right on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, USA.
