Europe's data center sector is heating up. A wave of debt-backed financing deals targeting data center infrastructure is expected to hit the market throughout this year. The underlying story? The continent is racing hard to compete with the US in capitalizing on the explosive growth of the AI industry. European investors and operators are awakening to the infrastructure gap—massive computational power demands from AI workloads require world-class data center facilities. Expect more capital flowing into this space as countries and private players recognize the strategic importance of homegrown AI infrastructure. This could reshape regional economic dynamics and attract substantial institutional investment to European tech infrastructure plays.