Nordic DC associations strengthen relationships at Nordic Board meeting and AI Infrastructure Forum

Christine Kjær Jacobsen • December 4, 2024

Share

The Nordic data center associations and their respective boards gathered in Stockholm for the annual Nordic board meeting and hosted the first Nordic AI Infrastructure Forum. These events provided the platform to discuss the future of the Nordic data center industry, to collaborate with Nordic partners, and to highlight the crucial role of data centers in powering AI innovation.

Nordic Board Meeting: A common Nordic voice

Representatives from the boards in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Finland were gathered for the second time to formalize and dedicate their focus on future collaboration. Spanning across two days, the Nordic board meeting discussed strategies for future cooperation, marketing initiatives, and activities for 2025.


A key topic of discussion was increasing energy consumption and electricity requirements within the data center industry. With global electricity demands for data centers projected to double in the coming years, maintaining the Nordic power advantage and ensuring sufficient investments in the grid will be essential in coming years.


In addition to discussions on power, one of the key discussions centered on how to continue the work of creating a shared branding platform for the Nordics. The Nordics continue to share a strong value proposition for data centers when it comes to energy, infrastructure, and climate – political and weather.


Last year, the Nordic associations successfully set out specific goals to continue working on implementation of the EED (link), to participate in Data Cloud Global Congress (link), to launch the first Nordic Data Center Week (link), and to launch a Nordic AI infrastructure event (link).


A newly established steering group and dedicated working groups will now continue and scale the activities plan for 2025.

Nordic AI Infrastructure Forum: A Deep Dive into AI and Data Centers

The inaugural Nordic AI Infrastructure Forum gathered leaders within AI to discuss how the Nordic region can cooperate on building sustainable infrastructure to support AI technologies.


The Forum featured a lineup of distinguished speakers who delved into the latest trends and challenges in AI and data center infrastructure.



Highlights from the forum included:


  • The Future of AI: Mark Hammarstedt from NVIDIA explored the future of AI and the infrastructure required to support it. He emphasized how AI is already transforming every industry, and how the demand for fast and easy deployment is greater than ever.
  • Nordic Cooperation in Digitalization: Cecilia Leveaux, Senior Advisor in Digitalization at the Nordic Council of Ministers, discussed the importance of Nordic cooperation in advancing digitalization and AI readiness. She highlighted the importance of implementing the recently published AI recommendations and in creating a platform for collaboration across the Nordics.
  • Harnessing AI for Societal Impact: A panel discussion explored the ethical and societal implications of AI. Panelists discussed the need for responsible AI development and for taking a positive view on the opportunities presented by AI.
  • Enabling High-Performance AI: Dr. Kunbin Hong from Supermicro presented the latest advancements in server technology and AI factories, emphasizing the importance of coordination across when everything is connected and cloud-based.
  • The Nordic Advantage in Sustainable AI: Ali Syed from the Danish Center for AI discussed the need for robust data infrastructure and the importance of partnerships in handling this newest industrial revolution.
  • Power and Sustainability – What about Power?  A panel discussion focused on the power requirements of data centers and the importance of sustainable energy sources. Will we be hearing about 10gw announcements in 2025? The panel says yes, and that requires deeper focus on power and time to market for power. Luckily, there is already a strong history of collaboration when it comes to energy in the Nordics.
  • Delivering Sustainable Digital Infrastructure in the AI Age: A panel featuring experts from AWS, Equinix, Green Mountain, and ECODC discussed the challenges and opportunities of delivering sustainable digital infrastructure in the AI-era. According to the panel, power and talented workforce will be the scarcest resources for data centers in the future. They emphasized the importance of being better as an industry to tell the positive stories and effects for society and local communities.


Looking Ahead

The event concluded with the heads of the Nordic data center organizations summarizing the past year as well as the planned highlights for 2025. Based on broad agreement that we are stronger together; participants were sent home to ponder how we can facilitate the change in the industry that we are waiting for.


The next Nordic Board meeting and AI Infrastructure Forum are set to take place in Oslo, Norway, in November 2025.


Back to news

Contact us

Merima Dzanic

Head of Strategy & Operations

Kurt Henriksen

Advisor, Communications and Public Relations

Christine Kjær Jacobsen

Marketing & Communication Manager

Share by: