atNorth plans Stockholm data centre expansion

atNorth has unveiled plans to build a new high-density data centre in Stockholm, strengthening its Nordic presence as cloud providers, enterprises and artificial intelligence developers push demand for low-carbon digital infrastructure across Europe.

The Iceland-based operator said the Stockholm facility would be designed to support compute-intensive workloads, including high-performance computing and AI training, with a focus on energy efficiency and heat reuse. The project adds to atNorth’s existing portfolio in Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, positioning the company to serve customers seeking regional capacity close to major population and financial hubs.

This move to expand atNorth’s Stockholm footprint reflects a broader shift among data centre operators towards the Nordic region, where abundant renewable power, cooler climates and stable regulation are drawing sustained investment. Stockholm has emerged as a focal point within that trend, supported by strong fibre connectivity, proximity to enterprise customers, and municipal policies that encourage waste-heat recovery into district heating networks.

According to the company, the planned site will be engineered for high rack densities and advanced cooling systems, enabling efficient operation for workloads that place heavy demands on power and thermal management. atNorth has previously emphasised the use of renewable energy and innovative cooling techniques across its campuses, and the Stockholm build is expected to follow similar design principles.

The expansion comes amid a sharp rise in demand for data centre capacity across Europe, driven by the growth of cloud services, data-sovereignty requirements and the rapid uptake of generative AI. Industry analysts note that hyperscale and colocation providers are increasingly competing for suitable sites that can deliver large amounts of power while meeting environmental targets set by both customers and regulators.

Sweden has become one of the more competitive Nordic markets, with operators balancing attractive power economics against grid constraints in certain regions. Stockholm, in particular, has seen heightened scrutiny over power availability and planning approvals as data centre projects multiply. Market participants say that securing grid connections early and demonstrating efficient energy use have become decisive factors in winning approvals.

atNorth’s strategy has focused on targeting customers with demanding compute needs rather than purely scale-driven deployments. The company has marketed itself as a specialist in high-density and high-performance environments, appealing to research institutions, financial services firms and technology companies running complex simulations or AI models. The Stockholm facility is intended to broaden that customer base by offering capacity in a major metropolitan market.

The Nordic data centre sector has also been shaped by policy discussions around sustainability. Sweden’s approach has combined incentives for green energy with expectations that operators contribute to local energy efficiency goals. District heating integration, where excess heat from servers is fed into municipal networks, has become a defining feature of several Stockholm-area projects. atNorth has indicated that heat reuse will be a core consideration in the new development.

Competition in the region remains intense. Global colocation groups and hyperscale developers have been expanding or scouting sites across Sweden, Finland and Denmark, while local operators seek to differentiate on sustainability credentials and technical specialisation. The influx of AI-driven workloads has further intensified the race, as such applications can require several times the power density of conventional enterprise computing.

From an economic perspective, the Stockholm project underscores the continued confidence investors and operators place in the Nordic digital infrastructure market, despite broader uncertainty in technology spending cycles. While some regions have seen delays or reassessments of large-scale data centre builds due to power constraints or regulatory pushback, the Nordics continue to attract long-term commitments tied to renewable energy availability.

atNorth’s broader expansion has included incremental growth across multiple campuses rather than a single mega-site, a strategy aimed at spreading risk and aligning capacity more closely with customer demand. The Stockholm announcement fits that pattern, adding metropolitan capacity without departing from the company’s emphasis on efficiency and sustainability.