Meta halts data center projects in Odense

Meta is in the process of expanding its data center in Odense with a third building, which is expected to be ready for use next summer.

The company was in the process of expanding with two additional data halls, but that work has been stopped according to a Meta statement to local newspaper Fyens Stiftstidende.

According to Meta, it is not because they need less server power, the company emphasizes in its statement:

"Billions of people use our platforms daily to stay in touch, and the communities on our apps continue to grow. Our existing data centers, including the one in Odense, will continue to form the backbone of our business," the company writes.

 “The data centers, which are to be used for the calculations that enable artificial intelligence, must be cooled in a different way than is done in the current data centers, and that kind of cooling cannot be built into the current data centers”, explains Meta's head of communications, Peter Münster, to Fyens Stiftstidende.

“Higher densities require a shift in the way in which we design, build and cool data centers. In recent years we have seen liquid cooling gaining traction in the industry, to combat the increasing energy demands,” says Henrik Hansen, CEO of Danish Data Center Industry.

“This industry has always been hyper-aware of energy consumption, and this shift does not come as a surprise to us, as demand for AI and other energy-intense applications continue to be rolled out ”, adds Hansen.

General industry shift towards IT outsourcing

In general, the datacenter industry is experiencing high demands for data capacity, which has been accelerated to unprecedented levels after the pandemic. This trend is reflected in the high levels of uptake for colocation space across Europe in recent years.

Denmark is increasingly drawing attention from investors from this particular segment. The shift towards outsourcing IT infrastructure, either to colocation or cloud, affords enterprise companies more flexibility and scalability.

Recently Varde Municipality sold land to Dutch investor Nera Holding Sàrl, who has ambitions to run sustainable data center facilities in Denmark.

Meta will remain in Odense, with the third building expected to be completed during the summer of 2023.

"Odense continues to be a fantastic place to run a data center, and our newly relocated colleagues are happy to have become part of the local community," the company told Fyens Stiftstidende.