Alphabet Inc.'s Google announced on Tuesday that it has broken ground on its first data center located in Horndal, Sweden. The company said the new facility is being built to accommodate increasing demand for its online services, specifically naming Search, Google Cloud and YouTube as expected users of the site.
Google said the Horndal data center will directly employ 100 people once operational, and that the project represents an expansion of its footprint in Sweden. Google first established an office in the country in 2004, and the new site is positioned to provide support to Swedish businesses, creators and developers across the country.
The company described several design features intended to reduce the site's environmental footprint. The center will use air-cooling systems to limit water consumption, and it is being planned with infrastructure to enable off-site heat recovery so that waste heat can be supplied to nearby homes and businesses.
Since 2013, Google has supported the addition of more than 700 megawatts of renewable energy to Sweden's electricity grid, the company said. In parallel with the data center project, Google is launching a €5 million fund dedicated to community projects in areas of education, sustainability and workforce development that the company said will help create jobs in the region.
Google noted that this Horndal facility is its first data center in Sweden. The company operates data centers in multiple countries to back its global services, and said the new site will join that network to meet user demand and support local stakeholders.
Context and implications
Google characterized the Horndal project as both a local investment and part of its broader infrastructure strategy to serve rising use of its online platforms. The company highlighted environmental design elements - air-cooling and planned heat recovery - and tied the project to a community investment vehicle aimed at education, sustainability and workforce initiatives. Details on the construction timeline, broader employment impact beyond the 100 direct jobs, and the scale of the data center were not provided in the announcement.
Summary of facts
- Google broke ground on its first Swedish data center in Horndal, announced Tuesday.
- The facility is intended to serve Search, Google Cloud and YouTube.
- The project will create 100 direct jobs and expand Google’s presence in Sweden, where it opened its first office in 2004.
- The data center will be air-cooled to reduce water usage and designed for off-site heat recovery to supply local heating.
- Google has supported over 700 megawatts of renewable energy additions to Sweden’s grid since 2013.
- Google is launching a €5 million fund for community initiatives in education, sustainability and workforce development linked to the project.