SAN FRANCISCO, USA, March 20, 2026 (Lusa) – Secretary of State for Digitalization Bernardo Correia concluded a visit on Friday to California’s San Francisco Bay Area, where he has promoted Portugal as a leading investment destination for artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers.
The five-day mission coincided with the government’s approval of a national data center plan aimed at positioning Portugal as Europe’s leading data hub, while ensuring digital sovereignty and attracting foreign direct investment. Speaking to Lusa, he said Portugal has the talent and necessary conditions to attract AI investments, research centers and data centers from both venture capital firms and software giants.
“We have leading startups, scalers and unicorns, and we need to emphasize the quality of the ecosystem, the quality of the talent, the ability of the ecosystem to create value and generate wealth,” said Bernardo Correia.
“We are also here to ensure that Portugal is well-positioned to build data centres, which is currently the biggest opportunity of the century to attract investment.”
“We are talking about truly astronomical amounts and Portugal is well placed to obtain this investment.”
The visit, part of the National Digital Strategy, will conclude on Friday at Stanford University with a visit to the plug-and-play incubator, meetings with venture capital funds, talks with digital infrastructure companies, and an event dedicated to sustainability in the digital transition.
“We are also looking at how we can promote Portugal as an investment destination for artificial intelligence infrastructure and are in talks with investors in this area,” he said.
The Secretary of State noted the renewed interest in hardware and physical AI in Silicon Valley, and said advanced robotics and quantum sensing are the “cutting edge” of technological evolution that should be brought to Portugal.
“We must ensure that Portugal and Europe are at the forefront of technology, rather than simply chasing technology that other countries are already leading,” he said.
The mission aimed to identify global best practices for incubating and accelerating AI and deep tech startups in order to “ensure that Portugal is well represented and well-positioned for international investment.”
Part of this strategy includes the Plug and Play incubator in partnership with Startup Portugal to support the internationalization and scaling of Portuguese startups in the United States.
But the government wants to find other ways of cooperation to “better connect” startups in Portugal and California, Bernardo Correia said.
“The startup ecosystem in the San Francisco region is the best in the world and the most advanced on the planet. There is a lot of information exchange here in Portugal about how we can improve our own ecosystem,” he said, adding that this visit should open doors and lead to concrete partnerships in the future.
The Secretary of State’s visit was supported by the Portuguese Consulate General and the AICEP (Portuguese Trade and Investment Agency) office in San Francisco, which has worked to position Portugal as a center of technological development with excellent business opportunities on the international stage.
ARYG/MYAL // ADB.
Lusa
