Plans have been reported for the Pantheon project in the Topusko area of Sisak-Moslavina County, Croatia, to build an artificial intelligence development and innovation center together with a large data center and technology campus. According to Jutarnji List’s Tuesday report, the project’s total investment is estimated at roughly €50 billion, and the facility could become one of Europe’s largest AI infrastructures.
Project leadership and technical team
The project’s Croatian lead is entrepreneur Jako Andabak. Technical design is led by engineer Mislav Crnogorac, who was born in Zagreb and previously worked on data center projects at several international technology companies, including Amazon Web Services.
Vecernji List added that Jako Andabak is developing the Pantheon data center project in partnership with American institutional investors, and that the development may be presented at the business forum of the Three Seas Initiative summit taking place in Dubrovnik.
Planned facilities and timeline
Developers envision a multi-stage implementation that would create a data center complex supporting research, development and the heavy compute needs of artificial intelligence. Jutarnji List emphasized that, if built as planned, the investment would be by far the largest in Croatia’s history.
According to the reports, construction is expected to begin in the coming years and the first units could start operating by the end of the decade.
Economic impact and jobs
Local reporting cites developer estimates that construction would generate several thousand jobs. During operation, about 1,500 specialists could be employed directly at the center, and with indirect effects included the project could create around 6,000 new positions in the region.
The developers said they chose Croatia after competing with several Central and Eastern European countries to host the project. Factors in the decision included Croatia’s EU and NATO membership, regional stability, and access to skilled technical labor.
Strategic context
The project targets the rapidly expanding global market for AI infrastructure, which has attracted record investment in recent years. If realized, Pantheon would represent not only a major national project for Croatia but one of the most significant technology developments in Central and Eastern Europe.
Related economic note: inflation in Croatia
Vecernji List also reported that inflation in Croatia accelerated in March: the annual rate rose to 4.8 percent from 3.8 percent in February, and the monthly increase was 1.4 percent. Energy was the main driver, rising 11.3 percent year-on-year and 5.0 percent month-on-month. Service prices increased 7.8 percent year-on-year; food, beverages and tobacco rose 3.9 percent year-on-year. Industrial goods excluding energy fell 0.6 percent.
The paper noted that Croatia’s harmonized consumer price index puts its inflation rate among the highest in the euro area, posing particular challenges for economic policy.
Conclusion
The Pantheon proposal envisages a major AI data center and technology campus near Topusko with an estimated €50 billion investment. Developers say the project would create sizable construction employment, around 1,500 permanent specialist roles, and broader regional economic effects, with construction possibly beginning within the next few years and initial operations by the end of the decade.
