Türkiye has broken ground on a data center campus in Ankara that could involve $4.1 billion of investment across three phases, placing digital infrastructure alongside energy, transport and advanced manufacturing as a major target for foreign capital. The project, led by Rönesans Infrastructure and US-listed Digital Realty, is significant not only for its scale, but also because it tests whether Türkiye can convert demand for artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data sovereignty into bankable infrastructure supported by reliable power, international connectivity and predictable regulation.
A $4.1 Billion Plan With Several Layers of Capital
The Ankara Temelli Data Center Campus is being developed through a strategic joint venture between Rönesans Infrastructure and Digital Realty, one of the world’s largest carrier-neutral data center operators. Construction began in October 2026 in the Temelli area of Ankara.
According to Anadolu Agency, the first phase will provide more than 22 megawatts of IT capacity and over 10,000 square meters of technical “white space,” the secure area containing servers and related equipment. Operations are scheduled to begin in 2028.
Rönesans Holding President Emeritus Erman Ilıcak said the initial facility would require approximately $450 million for land, infrastructure and construction, followed by about $900 million of cooling, computing and other technology investment by service providers. He said total investment could reach $4.1 billion after three phases, with the broader program delivered over approximately three years.
Those figures require careful interpretation. The $4.1 billion headline appears to combine several capital layers, including the campus developer’s physical infrastructure and equipment installed by operators or customers. It should not be read automatically as a single, fully committed equity injection by Digital Realty or as an immediate FDI inflow.
There is also a difference between figures published for the Ankara campus and the partners’ wider Turkish program. Rönesans said in an October 2026 corporate announcement that the partnership’s long-term capacity could reach 200 MW, with investment potential of up to $3 billion across Türkiye, including a planned second campus in Istanbul. Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır, meanwhile, told the groundbreaking ceremony that Rönesans and Digital Realty could help mobilize more than $10 billion of investment associated with 200 MW of capacity in Ankara and Istanbul. These numbers may use different definitions, particularly regarding customer IT hardware and associated cloud infrastructure. Investors should therefore distinguish committed development expenditure from estimated downstream technology spending.
What is already concrete is the joint venture itself, the secured land, power and permits cited by Digital Realty, the start of early construction, and the first facility’s 22 MW-plus design.
Ankara Emerges as a Second Digital-Infrastructure Cluster
Türkiye’s commercial data center market has historically been concentrated around Istanbul and the Marmara region, close to financial institutions, corporate headquarters, internet exchanges and international fiber routes. The Ankara pipeline indicates a geographic broadening of the market.
The capital offers a different demand profile. Government bodies, defense and aerospace companies, regulated financial users, public-sector contractors and businesses handling sensitive information may value proximity to Ankara and the resilience created by locating infrastructure away from Istanbul’s concentration risk. Ankara also has an established technology and engineering workforce, organized industrial zones and a substantial public procurement ecosystem.
The Temelli project is not an isolated development. In June 2025, Türkiye’s Investment Office announced a partnership between Trendyol and Castle Investments for a $500 million, 48 MW data center in the same district. Its first 9.6 MW phase was scheduled to enter operation in the third quarter of 2026.
UAE-based Khazna Data Centers separately announced an AI-ready facility of up to 100 MW in Ankara’s Başkent Organized Industrial Zone. Khazna CEO Hassan Alnaqbi described the project as a long-term commitment to Türkiye’s digital transformation. The planned facility includes solar panels, low-carbon construction materials, efficient cooling and wastewater-reuse systems.
Türksat also disclosed plans in February 2025 for a new Gölbaşı data center with 6,000 square meters of white space. Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said the first phase would triple Türksat’s existing capacity, while the second would increase it more than eightfold.
Elsewhere in the market, Turkcell and Google Cloud announced a planned Turkish cloud region supported by $3 billion of combined investment. According to the Investment Office, Google committed $2 billion over ten years and Turkcell planned $1 billion. Turkcell has indicated that the cloud region is expected to become operational during the 2028 to 2029 period.
Together, these projects suggest the creation of a genuine cluster rather than a single prestige development. They could attract network operators, cybersecurity providers, cooling specialists, engineering contractors and cloud-software companies. The investment case, however, depends on whether announced capacity is matched by contracted demand. Large projects must secure anchor customers and long-term service agreements to avoid speculative overbuilding.
AI Policy Is Turning Data Centers Into Strategic Infrastructure
The Ankara campus aligns closely with Türkiye’s 2026-2030 Artificial Intelligence Action Plan. The Ministry of Industry and Technology says national installed data center capacity is currently about 250 MW and has set a target of at least 1 gigawatt by 2030.
Minister Kacır has also said the government intends to mobilize at least $10 billion in private data center and AI investment through approximately $3 billion of public support. Under that calculation, the Rönesans and Digital Realty program could make a material contribution to the national capacity target.
The policy is backed by the HIT-30 High Technology Investment Program. The HIT-Data Center call, announced in October 2025, offers support for projects with at least 30 MW of IT capacity, at least half of their capacity compatible with AI hardware, power usage effectiveness of no more than 1.4, and integration with large cloud or AI service centers.
According to an analysis by Turkish law firm Çakmak, qualifying projects can receive tax incentives, energy support and employment assistance. Other data center investments may seek support under Türkiye’s Priority or Target Investment Incentive schemes, potentially including customs-duty and value-added-tax exemptions, reduced corporate tax, financing support and land allocation.
The technical conditions are important. Incentive applications can require a Turkish Standards Institution design certificate aligned with TS EN 50600, specified availability and protection classes, energy monitoring, and fiber connections from at least two telecommunications operators. Incentives are therefore not simply negotiated financial benefits. They must be incorporated into engineering, procurement and site-selection decisions from the beginning.
For foreign sponsors, this makes investment-incentive planning inseparable from market-entry strategy and project management. A project that selects land or finalizes its design before testing eligibility could lose access to material support or face costly redesigns.
Power, Connectivity and Sustainability Are the Binding Constraints
A 22 MW IT load represents only part of a data center’s total electricity requirement. Cooling, power conversion and auxiliary systems raise actual consumption, while AI servers require higher rack density and more demanding thermal management than conventional enterprise computing.
Türkiye’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources reported that gross electricity consumption rose 3.2 percent to 364.8 terawatt-hours in 2025. The National Energy Plan projects demand of 455.3 TWh in 2030. Installed generation capacity reached 127,355 MW by the end of September 2026, with solar accounting for 22.2 percent, wind 12.2 percent and hydropower 25.4 percent.
That expanding renewable base is positive, but national installed capacity does not itself guarantee a suitable connection at a specific site. Data center investors need firm grid-access terms, redundancy, substation capacity, backup generation, water availability and credible renewable-energy procurement. Connection delays or curtailment risks can materially affect delivery schedules and customer commitments.
The campus must also secure diverse fiber routes rather than merely multiple contracts using the same physical corridor. For a carrier-neutral operator, the quality of interconnection, latency and access to international routes can matter as much as real estate or electricity prices.
Import-export planning is another practical issue. High-performance chips, electrical switchgear, generators, cooling equipment and specialized construction components may be imported under complex delivery schedules. Customs treatment, certification and export-control exposure can affect both cost and commissioning. This is where coordinated import-export facilitation and on-the-ground project management become central to execution.
Regulation Will Shape the Customer Base
Local capacity is increasingly valuable because Turkish rules apply differently across customer groups. Government workloads classified as strategic and information systems used by regulated financial institutions can face localization or sector-specific outsourcing requirements. A facility serving banks, public authorities or critical infrastructure must therefore map each tenant’s regulatory perimeter rather than rely on a single generic cloud-compliance model.
Türkiye’s Personal Data Protection Law, known as the KVKK, was amended in 2024 to create a more structured framework for overseas data transfers. The Personal Data Protection Authority states that transfers can rely on an adequacy decision or, where no such decision exists, safeguards such as approved binding corporate rules, standard contracts or written commitments. Standard transfer contracts must be notified to the authority within five business days of signing.
Locating data in Ankara does not eliminate these questions. Cloud platforms routinely involve remote administration, international support personnel, disaster recovery and telemetry sent across borders. Investors and tenants must map where data is stored, accessed and backed up, then align customer contracts and technical architecture with KVKK and sector-specific requirements.
Cybersecurity, environmental permitting, construction approvals, electronic-communications rules and future climate obligations add further layers. Government relations and regulatory liaison are consequently operational requirements, particularly where several ministries, regulators, municipal bodies and organized industrial zone administrations have overlapping responsibilities.
Financing also presents structural challenges. Norton Rose Fulbright noted in a March 2026 analysis that Turkish data center projects increasingly resemble operational infrastructure rather than ordinary real estate. Cash flow depends on customer contracts, power arrangements, connectivity and service performance. The firm also highlighted restrictions affecting foreign-currency contracts, which can create mismatches when construction and debt are denominated in dollars or euros but domestic revenue is collected in lira.
What This Means for Foreign Investors
The Ankara campus strengthens the case that Türkiye is developing into a regional cloud and data-processing market, but it does not remove execution risk. The country attracted $13.1 billion of FDI in 2025, according to Central Bank data cited by the Investment Office, with information and communications accounting for $1.3 billion. The $4.1 billion campus estimate is therefore exceptionally large relative to annual inflows, although it will be phased and includes spending that may not qualify as FDI.
A foreign operator, infrastructure fund or technology supplier should first validate demand by customer segment, latency requirement and regulatory need. Market-entry work must determine whether to pursue a wholly owned platform, joint venture, colocation arrangement or equipment-supply role. Company incorporation and corporate structuring should then address ownership, financing, profit repatriation and the allocation of construction and operating risks.
Investment-incentive analysis must begin before design is locked, particularly for HIT-30 thresholds, energy-efficiency standards, certification and customs exemptions. Legal and tax compliance must cover KVKK, cybersecurity, regulated workloads, foreign-currency contracting and transfer pricing. Government relations are needed to coordinate grid access, permits, standards and incentive authorities.
For suppliers, expo and trade-fair representation can support entry into Türkiye’s expanding cloud, telecom and AI procurement ecosystem, while import-export facilitation is necessary for controlled technology and time-sensitive equipment. Finally, project management must integrate construction, power, fiber, customer fit-outs and commissioning against the 2028 operating target.
The opportunity is substantial, but the decisive measure will not be the announced dollar value. It will be whether Türkiye can translate multiple large campuses into reliable, efficiently powered and internationally connected capacity that global customers are willing to contract for over the long term.