Portugal is expected to secure more than $40 billion in American technology investment before 2031, a scale of spending that would give the country the biggest cluster of US artificial intelligence infrastructure anywhere on the continent.
That assessment comes from John Arrigo, the US ambassador to Portugal, speaking this week at an event marking the successful activation of Google's new Nuvem transatlantic cable.
Nuvem is a subsea cable system that links the United States with Bermuda, the Azores and mainland Portugal. It is the first project of its kind, engineered specifically to boost network resilience across the Atlantic.
The ambassador called the cable's completion the clearest evidence yet of a deepening bond between Washington and Lisbon.
According to Arrigo, the sheer volume of investment on the horizon would cement Portugal's status as Europe's foremost hub for American AI infrastructure spending. He encouraged other European countries to take a similar path, building out their digital futures alongside dependable US partners instead of risking being left behind.
The Nuvem cable has come to represent this deepening technological bond between the two nations.
Portugal's appeal extends well beyond the cable project, with the country emerging as a hotspot for large-scale data centre construction. More than 2.6 gigawatts of data centre capacity is currently in the pipeline nationally, headlined by the 1.2 GW Start Campus development in Sines, south of the capital.
Backed financially by American firm Davidson Kempner, the Sines project ranks among the largest infrastructure schemes of its kind anywhere in Europe.
US economic involvement in Portugal is already extensive. America stands as the country's third-biggest foreign investor, with investment stock approaching $20 billion spanning sectors from AI and energy to agriculture and tourism. The projected influx of fresh tech investment would represent a major addition to this already sizeable base.
Ambassador Arrigo further praised Portugal's handling of data governance, describing its sovereign cloud framework as striking a careful balance: open enough to continue attracting major partners such as Google, yet disciplined enough to safeguard sensitive national interests. In his view, this is the exact model the rest of Europe ought to be adopting right now.
Setting out the broader choice facing European nations, the ambassador argued that the real decision is not between sovereignty and partnership, but between building a digital future in cooperation with trusted allies and attempting to go it alone, risking falling behind global competitors.
His remarks come as competition heats up among European countries vying to attract AI and data infrastructure investment, fuelled by soaring global demand for computing power, cloud services and digital connectivity.
Paul Stannard, chairman and founder of Portugal Pathways, said: "We see a huge level of interest from US investors, especially through Portugal's Golden Visa residency-by-investment programme.
"The growing US interest, especially at the level of this forthcoming deal, represents a significant vote of confidence in its position as a strategic gateway between Europe and North America, reinforcing Portugal's ambitions to become a key node in the transatlantic digital economy over the coming years."
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