Sweden, which offers robust power grid, fibre network and renewable energy, is attracting Facebook, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google for setting up new or expanding data centers.
Facebook, US-based social media network, will almost double its data center site in Lulea, Sweden.
Facebook has made an investment of $1.2 billion till now in Lulea as part of its plan to set up a data center in Sweden in 2011.
The Lulea campus will be more than 100 000 m2/1 million sq ft when the new data center goes operational in 2021.
Facebook’s decision to expand their Lulea site confirms that Sweden has the best possible conditions to operate large-scale data centers, said Tomas Sokolnicki, head of Data Centers by Sweden at Business Sweden.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) will be finalizing the construction of three data centers in the Stockholm region.
Google is working on the 109 ha land plot acquired by Google to prepare for a potential data center project.
“Sweden’s combination of low power costs, together with a renewable energy production, a near zero-carbon footprint and robust fiber connectivity makes it one of Europe’s most ideal locations for data centers to invest and expand their operations,” Tomas Sokolnicki said.
Ever since Sweden reduced the cost of electricity for data centers last year, interest from all kinds of data center operators, from high performance computing to colocation has reached an all-time high.
The data center industry in Sweden is currently growing at an estimated 14 percent per year, and is expected to employ 30,000 people in 2025.
