Companies build on Eni’s previous agreement with G42 and MGX
Italian oil giant Eni is partnering with a Middle Eastern data center firm to develop new capacity outside Milan.
Eni and Khazna Data Centers have signed a heads of terms agreement to set up a joint venture aimed at developing a 500MW AI data center campus in Ferrera Erbognone, Lombardy.
Development activities are already underway. Further project details or timelines were not shared.
The campus will be powered by “blue power,” supplied by Eni via a new dedicated power plant, with CO2 capture and storage. Eni has said blue power is “a low-carbon energy source generated by natural gas power plants, whose CO2 emissions are captured and stored.”
The agreement was signed by Khazna CEO Hassan Alnaqbi and Eni COO Global Natural Resources Guido Brusco in the presence of Reem Al Hashimi, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation, and Adolfo Urso, Italy’s Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy.
Hassan Alnaqbi, CEO of Khazna Data Centers, said: “We’re proud to partner with Eni, a demonstrated energy leader, on this HoT, which represents a defining step in Khazna’s European expansion. Together with Eni, we are enabling the infrastructure needed for exponential AI growth—delivering the scale, sustainability, and operational precision that next-generation compute demands.”
Eni first announced plans to develop up to 1GW of new data center capacity in February, signing a letter of intent with investment firm MGX and G42, both of which are investors in Khazna.
Khazna, an Emirati wholesale data center operator, operates 30 data centers across the UAE and is developing facilities in Egypt and Turkey.
Guido Brusco, COO global natural resources at Eni, added: “Through this partnership, Eni and Khazna are jointly contributing to delivering a world-class hyperscale infrastructure, strategic for Italy and Europe, providing their distinctive capabilities in innovation, energy sustainability, and rapid time-to-market.”
Eni is the largest petroleum company in Italy and the second-largest based in the European Union, after Total.
Ferrera Erbognone is already home to an Eni data center. The company launched its Green Data Centre outside Pavia, south of Milan, in 2013. The 30MW site spans 5,200 sqm (55,970 sq ft) and offers 50kW per square meter. It is partly powered by a 1MW photovoltaic power plant and is home to several powerful supercomputers.
G42 is an Emirati artificial intelligence (AI) development holding company. It is funding data center projects in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
MGX is an Emirati investment firm for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies established by the government of Abu Dhabi via G42 and the Mubadala sovereign wealth fund. It is involved in OpenAI’s Stargate project and fuelling projects in France. Mubadala also has a stake in G42.
Khazna merged with G42 and e&'s data center operations in October 2021 in a deal that made Khazna the UAE’s largest data center provider. The company secured additional funding from MGX and Silver Lake in April 2025. Silver Lake is also an investor in Vantage.
