FEATURE
DATA CENTERS, NEW TECHNOLOGIES, AND EUROPEAN DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY BETWEEN AUTONOMY AND DEPENDENCE: The Challenge of Critical Infrastructures in the 21st Century BY JOSÉ AMARO
THE PHYSICAL HEART OF THE DIGITAL AGE
We live in an era in which sovereignty is no longer merely territorial but, above all, a matter of data. The borders of the 21st century are no longer drawn on maps — they stretch beneath the oceans, run through submarine cables, accumulate in servers, and are expressed in lines of code. Information has become the new strategic territory — invisible, yet decisive — and those who control it hold the power to shape economies, influence politics, and define individual freedoms. In this context, Europe finds itself at a turning point. Either it moves decisively toward the creation of sovereign digital
88 SUBMARINE TELECOMS FORUM MAGAZINE
critical infrastructures capable of guaranteeing the continent’s technological and legal autonomy, or it resigns itself to the role of a digital colony, dependent on systems, platforms, and regulations that neither reflect its values nor serve its interests. Data Centers are the physical heart of this new sovereignty. They store and process the data that power artificial intelligence, 5G networks, e-commerce, public administration, healthcare, and defense. They are the invisible temples of the digital world, where the knowledge economy materializes. Yet, paradoxically, the European continent — cradle of the most advanced principles of data protection and fundamen-