AI data center gold rush driven by thousands of newcomers

Dec 24, 2025
1 min read

In the golden hills of Puglia, a southern region of Italy known today for its olive trees, white cliffs and turquoise mediterranean coves, Lorenzo Avello has artificial intelligence on his mind.

Avello’s relatively unknown company, Adriatic DC, is looking to develop three massive data centers in the area, including a campus capable of turning 1.5 gigawatts of electricity into computing power for artificial intelligence services — easily eclipsing the capacity of most of today’s largest AI facilities.

A single gigawatt is enough to power up to 750,000 US homes at any given time. The goal, he said, is to establish “a Mediterranean AI hub.”

Avello has never built a data center. Before this, he worked on renewable energy projects. Thousands of newcomers with little to no computing capacity today are hoping to claim a piece of the AI infrastructure gold rush.