Pantheon AI, a hyperscale AI data center and innovation campus being developed by Pantheon Atlas LLC, a transatlantic investment group, will bring more than €50 billion in total investment to Croatia, marking the largest investment in Croatian history and among the largest private U.S. investments in Europe. The campus will be located in Topusko, Croatia, and is designed in accordance with NVIDIA GW-Scale AI factory standards.
The project addresses a structural capacity gap in European digital infrastructure, where surging AI-driven demand has outpaced available power, land, and construction resources across the continent. Europe’s established data center hubs are operating below 8% vacancy, with significant grid connection delays compounding the pressure. Central and Eastern Europe, where data center electricity demand is projected to grow three to four times by 2035, currently lacks a gigawatt-scale, AI-optimized facility to meet that demand. EU data sovereignty regulations are simultaneously compelling major technology companies to store European data within EU borders.
Pantheon AI will deliver 1 GW of total capacity with 800 MW of usable IT load across a 310-acre campus, expandable to 450 acres. The facility will be fully supplied by renewable energy, including an on-site 500 MW solar plant and 8,000 MWh of battery storage, and will integrate up to 5.2 GW of renewable energy onto Croatia’s national grid through four independent 400kV transmission lines. The campus will also feature four independent fiber routes across three major EU corridors, with a GreenMed subsea cable extending reach to Milan by 2028.
The project is designed to achieve above Tier IV resilience, representing the highest levels of availability in Europe. It will create 1,500 permanent jobs upon completion and an additional 3,000 roles during construction. The campus is located 45 minutes from Zagreb, providing access to a strong regional workforce.
Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2027, with full operations expected by the first quarter of 2029. Total investment will exceed €50 billion as hyperscale tenants deploy equipment and technology at scale. Construction of the initial €12 billion campus phase begins early 2027.
The announcement was made at the Three Seas Initiative Summit in Dubrovnik, attended by 13 presidents and prime ministers as well as Chris Wright, United States Secretary of Energy.
Key partners on the project include Greenvolt International Power, a KKR-majority-owned European renewable energy developer that has signed a letter of intent to build the on-site solar and battery storage infrastructure, Eastdil Secured as data center advisor, Končar Group for substation development, and Parsec Lab for data center design and engineering. Latham & Watkins and Hodgson Russ are serving as legal counsel, with PwC and KPMG as financial advisors. Sisak-Moslavina County has formally recognized the project as being of special importance to the region.
KEY QUOTES:
“Pantheon AI is a signal to the world that Croatia is open for the highest-caliber investment. This project is the culmination of years of work to bring world-class digital infrastructure to Croatia, and we have assembled the deep local expertise, grid relationships, and regulatory groundwork required to meet demand for data center capacity.”
Jako Andabak, Founding Partner, PantheonAI
“We have assembled a transatlantic partnership to solve one of the most pressing challenges in global digital infrastructure: enabling hyperscale operators to meet AI-driven demand at scale. We have lined up the power, fiber, regulatory stability, and institutional support to solve that problem in Europe, and we will establish Croatia and Central Europe as a premier destination for world-class digital infrastructure.”
Ryan Rich, Managing Partner, PantheonAI
“The race to lead in artificial intelligence is global, and we are pleased to see American capital and investment expertise like Pantheon AI anchoring that leadership in allied, democratic nations. Critical infrastructure of this scale, built by the private sector responding to real market demand, is exactly how US interests and European security advance together.”
Joshua Volz, Special Envoy for Global Energy Integration, U.S. Department of Energy
