For decades, Portugal has sought to attract technology companies; Today it is starting to attract the infrastructure that allows these companies to operate, and the difference is significant.

The new Local Zones do not exist only to bring cloud services closer to users. They also respond to the growing need for digital sovereignty, allowing certain data to remain on European territory and meet increasingly demanding security, privacy and operational continuity requirements. We are, therefore, facing critical infrastructures, which makes the choice of Portugal especially relevant.

The country was not selected for the size of its market, but for the combination of factors that today determine the location of large digital infrastructures: geographical position, submarine cable network, availability of renewable energy, qualified talent and institutional stability. The Atlantic location, which for centuries has made Portugal a platform for maritime trade, now takes on a new meaning: the submarine cables that connect Europe to the other continents transform the country into a strategic point for the global circulation of data, as essential for the current economy as ports were for the industrial economy.

Energy also plays a decisive role. Data centres require enormous electrical capacity, and large technology companies increasingly favour renewable sources to meet environmental commitments. Portugal currently has particularly favourable conditions in this area, which reinforces its attractiveness for this type of investment.

But perhaps the main consequence of this decision is another: when a company like AWS installs an infrastructure of this nature, it is not just investing; it is confident that the country can ensure stability, security, connectivity and predictability for many years to come. That trust represents an extraordinary opportunity, but it also brings new responsibilities.

As Portugal welcomes increasingly critical digital infrastructures, it also becomes responsible for ensuring high standards of cybersecurity, data protection, energy resilience and operational continuity. It is a new level of demand for a country that, for a long time, was mainly a consumer of technology developed in other markets and that is now beginning to integrate the infrastructure that supports part of the European digital economy.

That is perhaps the true meaning of AWS's decision: not just an investment, but the recognition that Portugal can play a strategic role in building Europe's new digital infrastructure.