Romania has a significant regional data center market, but it remains fragmented and not yet mature enough to attract large-scale investments, said Mihai Manole, CEO of Tema Energy, at the DigitALL 2026 conference organized by Energynomics in Bucharest.

“From a market perspective, however, Romania is developing in very small and slow steps,” said Manole during a discussion focused on the increasingly close connection between data centers, artificial intelligence, and energy infrastructure. According to him, interest in data centers has grown dramatically in recent years, but the local market remains, for now, dependent on gradual expansions by existing players.

Mihai Manole estimates that Romania has approximately 100 MW of installed capacity in private data centers, but this capacity is spread across 50 to 55 sites. “The Romanian market isn’t necessarily small, […], but it is highly fragmented,” he explained. This fragmentation supports a competitive market for colocation and cloud services, but does not yet send a strong enough signal to large investors.

Currently, the largest investors in data centers in Romania are public institutions, Manole noted, citing the government cloud and the infrastructure developed for various state agencies. He views this development positively, as the digitization of public services requires modern infrastructure, but he points out that Romania also needs a much better-developed private data center industry.

In the private sector, the immediate growth potential stems primarily from the expansion of existing operators, such as telecom companies and traditional providers of colocation, cloud, and cybersecurity services. In his view, the pace of domestic demand remains slow: existing players add capacity in the range of 500 kW, 1 MW, or 2 MW every two to three years.

Local demand cannot yet support large-scale investments, given that the adoption of digital services, the digitization of businesses, and the use of AI remain limited. For this reason, a major investment cannot be justified solely by local demand but should have a regional focus.

The most plausible scenario is the development of cloud and AI inference capabilities that would serve not only Romania but also nearby markets such as Serbia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, or Hungary, offering better latency than large centers in Germany, Italy, or Poland. “I think it can happen, but Romania is still on the radar of only a few investors,” said Manole.

From an energy infrastructure perspective, Mihai Manole does not see a lack of available power as the main obstacle. The problem is rather a lack of confidence and promotion of Romania as a destination for a large data center capable of covering the entire region.

At the same time, the relationship between IT and energy is undergoing a profound transformation. “Right now, a data center is also an energy center,” said Manole. The two industries can no longer be treated separately: IT operators must understand energy, and energy professionals must understand the requirements of digital infrastructure.

According to the CEO of Tema Energy, for investors, speed of implementation may matter more than the price of energy. “Speed of implementation is more important now than the price of energy,” he said, emphasizing the importance of rapid permitting, suitable locations, and the ability to build within 12–15 months. PPAs can reduce exposure to spot market volatility and provide predictability for large projects.

However, the synchronization between data center development and the electrical infrastructure remains critical. In the medium term, the energy industry could become a major source of demand for data centers, alongside the development of smart metering, automated markets, interconnection, and advanced data analytics. For now, however, Romania has digitized the DSO and TSO sectors only to a limited extent, and institutions are tempted to build their own infrastructure rather than contract capacity in large private data centers.

The most competitive option, in Manole’s view, would be for institutions and companies to contract capacity from large, centralized private data centers. These would be more efficient, would concentrate expertise, and would send a positive signal to investors.

The DigitALL 2026 conference was organized by Energynomics, with the support of our partners: CBRE Romania, Eaton Electric, EnergoBit, KSTAR New Energy, WALDEVAR Energy, and WTW Romania.