The former CEO of Portuguese data center company Start Campus, Afonso Salema, has launched a data center business.
In a recent LinkedIn post, Salema said TerraByte Data Centers would ‘terraform’ digital infrastructure for the future.
“This isn’t just about building better data centers - it’s about changing the world. It’s about creating the future we all want to see, where innovation meets responsibility, and where growth and sustainability go hand in hand,” he said in the post.
Details of TerraByte Data Centers have not yet been shared.
Salema’s other venture, a digital infrastructure consultancy named Light Fossil, holds a majority stake in the new business.
Salema resigned from Start Campus last year after he was arrested amid investigations of alleged “misuse of funds, active and passive corruption by political figures, and influence peddling” involving lithium mining concessions, a hydrogen production project, and Start’s data center campus in Sines.
The charges against Salema were later dropped after questions were raised about how strong the case was against him and four others who were similarly arrested. In a LinkedIn post, Salema thanked the industry for its support and expressed his 'relief and joy' of the outcome.
The scandal also saw the resignations of Portugal’s prime minister António Costa and Start’s chief of legal and sustainability Rui Oliveira Neves.
Robert Dunn is now the permanent CEO at Start Campus, having served as the interim CEO since November 2023.
A version of this story appeared on our Spanish site.
