Facebook confirms Sweden as a world-class destination for data centres

Facebook confirms Sweden as a world-class destination for data centres

Facebook has announced an expansion of its Luleå site to almost double its current size which will make the Luleå site one of the largest data centres in the world. Sweden has perfect conditions and is today one of the world’s most attractive locations for data centres.

Facebook first decided to establish a data centre in Sweden in 2011, where it has invested US$1.2 bn to date. When the new data centre goes operational in 2021, the Luleå campus will be more than 100,000 m2/1 million sq ft. This will make it one of the largest data centres in the world.

“Facebook’s decision to expand their Luleå site confirms that Sweden has the best possible conditions to operate large-scale data centres. This demonstrates that we deliver on high expectations from global investors. It has been an amazing journey to work with Facebook and Luleå to help create one of the largest and most energy-efficient data centres in the world,” said Tomas Sokolnicki, Head of Data Centers by Sweden at Business Sweden.

Sweden has a long industrial tradition where the need for power has been crucial to operate its mission-critical industries. Sweden’s secure and reliable infrastructure and production have developed over a long time, making Sweden fit for the digital era in a way that few other countries can match.

Other hyperscalers are also on their way. Amazon Web Services are about to finalise the construction of three data centres in the Stockholm region and work is ongoing on the 109 ha land plot acquired by Google to prepare for a potential data centre project.

Sweden’s unique combination of low power costs, together with a strong renewable energy production, a near-zero carbon footprint and robust fibre connectivity makes it one of Europe’s most ideal locations for data centres to invest and expand their operations.

“Data centre investors are attracted to Sweden’s robust power grid, our fibre network and renewable energy. After the cost of electricity for data centres was dramatically lowered last year, interest from all kinds of data centre operators, from high-performance computing, to colocation, has reached an all-time high,” said Tomas Sokolnicki.

The data centre industry in Sweden is currently growing at an estimated 14% per year and is expected to employ 30,000 people in 2025.

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