Web Summit is back, and Portugal wants an AI gigafactory

Web Summit opens in Lisbon today, as Portugal pitches itself as Europe’s next AI hub. It’s Monday, 9 November. Twenty degrees. Air quality: 20 to 35 (Good). Here’s what you need to know.

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WEB SUMMIT OPENS TODAY, AS PORTUGAL PITCHES ITSELF AS EUROPE’S AI HUB

Web Summit returns to Lisbon today, and Portugal is using the week to sell itself as Europe’s next hub for artificial intelligence. While more than 70,000 people gather in Parque das Nações, bids to host up to seven EU-backed AI “gigafactories”, giant computing centres supported by up to €10 billion of public money, close on Thursday. Portugal and Spain have prepared a joint bid, with Sines, on the Alentejo coast, as Portugal’s main site and further facilities planned for Lisbon and Abrantes. The winners are due early next year.

The pitch has been building for a year. Microsoft announced a $10 billion investment in AI data centres at Sines during last year’s Web Summit, and the campus there is now one of the biggest AI builds in Europe. Gonçalo Matias, the minister for state reform, speaks at tonight’s opening, one of only two ministers confirmed so far for an event usually crowded with them. The other, Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, gives a talk on the economy.

On stage, though, the week belongs to China. Eight of the first ten featured speakers are Chinese and the other two are robots made in China, with at least 33 speakers linked to Chinese companies or organisations and the biggest Chinese delegation the event has had.

The conference runs across the MEO Arena and the FIL exhibition halls until Thursday, and Paddy Cosgrave opens it at the MEO Arena tonight. Metro is adding trains on the Red and Green lines where it can, with extra security and signs in eight stations, so the Red Line into Oriente will be busier than usual all week.

The city is paying for its seat at the table. In September, Lisbon council approved €8 million for this year’s event from its tourism development fund, a payment the fund’s own investment committee criticised. The newspaper Diário de Notícias puts the total public cost since 2019 at more than €60 million once tax breaks and other costs are counted. The current deal runs until 2028, and Mayor Carlos Moedas wants to cut what the city pays if the event stays beyond then. The government is also hosting a dinner for around 120 guests at the Ajuda Palace tonight, at a cost of €35,415, or roughly €295 a head.

Bottom line: Lisbon is paying to host the conference in the same week bids close for a much bigger AI prize.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Storm Bruna brings rain, thunder and strong wind back to Lisbon tonight. IPMA, the national weather service, has put the Lisbon district under a yellow warning from 9pm tonight until 9am Tuesday, and the storm has already put about half the country under yellow warnings. A separate warning for rough seas runs on the coast from 6pm tonight until 6am Wednesday, with waves of 4 to 5 metres. Forecasters expect a short break in the rain from late morning into the early afternoon, which is the best window for anyone heading out today. The relief won’t last, though, as more fronts are due at least until Friday 13 November. The warning starts on Web Summit’s opening night.

Housing talks between the government and the Socialists have ended without a deal. Thursday’s meeting, part of the government’s talks with the opposition on housing, lasted almost two hours and ended without agreement. The government refused to start a new rent law from scratch or to drop its definition of “moderate” rent, which allows up to €2,300 a month, and the Socialists accused it of intransigence. No further meetings are planned, and the two sides decided against setting up a joint working team. They did find some common ground on tax, including an exemption from capital gains tax on the sale of homes, which will now be taken up in the detailed budget debate ahead of the final vote on 24 November. Chega’s André Ventura met the government separately for around 40 minutes, said any new rent law should be agreed by all three parties, and asked President António José Seguro to step in.

A tram 28 derailed in Graça on Sunday afternoon. The tram, heading for Martim Moniz, came off the tracks on Rua Angelina Vidal at around 3:30pm, ending up across the road after knocking down several posts. Nobody was hurt. The street was closed while firefighters worked at the scene, and the cause hasn’t been made public. The 28 is Lisbon’s best-known tram route, winding from Martim Moniz through Graça, Alfama, the Baixa and Chiado to Campo de Ourique, and it’s usually packed with visitors. Lisbon’s trams and funiculars have faced close scrutiny since the Glória funicular crash in September 2025, which killed 16 people.

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🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

CASA DO FRANGO (PARQUE DAS NAÇÕES)

Casa do Frango takes the neighbourhood churrasqueira and builds it at a scale Lisbon rarely sees. It seats 580 people across 900 square metres at the north end of Doca dos Olivais, a few minutes’ walk from the MEO Arena, with a terrace looking across the Tagus towards the Oceanário. Inside, the room is all natural wood, with Olaio chairs and benches, handmade tiles from the Viúva Lamego factory and a 12-metre counter of Lioz, the pale limestone found all over Lisbon, in front of the open kitchen, so the grill is in full view from most tables.

The chicken is grilled over charcoal and comes to the table on a stainless steel platter with paper tablecloths underneath, at €9.50 for a half or €18 for a whole. The skin comes out lightly toasted rather than charred, a matter of taste more than a flaw. It’s served with the house sauce, whose recipe they keep to themselves, or with their own piri-piri, and fries, garlic rice and salad are ordered on the side. The grill also turns out skewers and grilled cod, and there’s a gelato counter next door for dessert.

Online ratings reflect a split in the reviews. Diners rate the chicken and the room highly, but some find it pricey and say staff can be hard to flag down when it’s full. Set menus for groups make it an easy pick for a big table, and it does takeaway too. It’s open daily from midday, until 11pm from Sunday to Thursday and until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

→ Find them here ←

Insider tip: the house piri-piri arrives in a litre bottle, and it’s strong, so go easy at first.

📅 WHAT’S ON

See you tomorrow morning.

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