In recent years, data centres have become increasingly attractive to real estate players. Unfortunately, data centre operators are looking to southern European countries, such as Turkey, due to the fact that Romania is not located at the crossroads of two continents and has only one submarine internet cable, said Ilinca Timofte, Head of Research at Crosspoint Real Estate.

“For example, private equity firms, such as Blackstone, have been moving away from traditional assets in favor of data centers and digital infrastructure,” Timofte said, at the DigitALL 2024 conference organized by Energynomics.

Romania ranks 14th in the world in terms of internet speed, and the average cost of a subscription is just 7.5 euros per month. In addition, ESG criteria are becoming increasingly important in the development of data centres, and Romania benefits from significant natural and energy resources: it has 41% more water resources than the European average, has the second lowest energy dependency in Europe and substantial green energy resources, including nuclear.

However, the use of cloud services by companies is low, with Romania ranking second to last in Europe, ahead of Bulgaria. This can be an opportunity for the industry to grow, Timofte added.

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Romania is also facing a steady decline in population, with the exception of Bucharest, and a high rate of emigration.

On the other hand, the share of employees in the ITC sector has doubled in the last ten years, and Bucharest is the fourth European city in terms of the share of employees in the technology sector. In Romania, 40% of ITC employees are women, a higher proportion than in other European countries. However, Romania does not fare well in terms of cyber security, Timofte said.

DigitALL 2024 was organized by Energynomics, in partnership with reputed organizations such as the CIO Council, with the support of our partners: Corning, Datacor, Eaton Electric, Enevo Group, Procesio, Siemens, Sixt, Vertiv.