Greek data center firm Lamda Hellix has broken ground on a new data center outside Athens.

The company, which was acquired by Digital Realty’s Interxion last year, says the new 20MW Athens-3 facility will be the largest in Greece.

Apostolos Kakkos, President & CEO of Lamda Hellix, said: "I am happy because Athens 3 will not just be a new data center, it is the largest data center in Greece, part of the largest hub in Southeast Europe and is the way with which we have a positive influence, accelerating the digital transformation of Greece."

Located in Koropi, to the southeast of Athens, the 8,600 sqm (92,500 sq ft) facility is the first development the company has announced since it was acquired. It will be built to Tier III standards and LEED accredited. The first phase – due to be around 6.8MW – is expected to go live in December 2022.

“We are very happy when large foreign companies choose to invest in Greece. It is not only Digital Realty that has done so. However, this is also a vote of confidence in the overall momentum of the Greek economy,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at a groundbreaking ceremony.

The company has reportedly invested over €70 million ($80.8m) in the project and is in the process of submitting plans for its Athens-4 facility.

Lamda Hellix was founded in 2002. Originally built as a cable landing station, its first facility, Athens-1, opened in 2003 and was the first data center to gain a LEED v4 Gold badge.

It opened Athens-2 in 2016, after weathering the Greek debt crisis. Its existing Athens campus comprises two carrier-neutral data centers totaling 22MW of capacity.

Earlier this year Telecom Italia/TIM subsidiary Sparkle opened 7.7MW facility in Athens, its fourth in the country. Located in Athens close to Metamorfosis I, the new Metamorfosis II facility comprises an area of about 6,000 sq m, with a maximum capacity of 700 racks in six modules,

Microsoft is also developing its first Greek Azure Cloud region.