Data Center

• Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi urged Europe to build more AI data centers to secure sovereignty over its data. • Construction of a data center takes 42 months in Germany compared to 24 months in the U.S. due to permit and grid connection delays. • The European Commission estimates the region's data economy will exceed €800 billion, or more than 5% of GDP, by 2030.

• The Europe data center colocation market is projected to grow from USD 11.65 billion in 2025 to USD 46.51 billion by 2031. • This growth represents a compound annual growth rate of 25.95% driven by rising demand for AI infrastructure and cloud services. • Investors are diversifying into Central and Eastern Europe, with Poland leading regional investment and Finland expected to see the highest growth in the Nordic region.

• Google will invest at least EUR13 billion in Finnish AI infrastructure between 2027 and 2028. • The company is expanding its Hamina data center and adding new sites in Kajaani, Muhos, and Vaala, supported by a 22-year nuclear power agreement with Fortum. • This investment secures long-term energy stability for AI operations through a mix of nuclear power, wind energy, and battery projects.

• Google is investing €13 billion in a European data center hub, specifically in Finland, to build out its infrastructure. • The investment will be used to develop digital and energy infrastructure, showcasing Google's commitment to expanding its presence in the region. • This move is expected to have a significant impact on the Finland data center market, solidifying its position as a burgeoning hub for technology and infrastructure development.

• Liberty Global agreed to sell the tower assets of its Dutch subsidiary, VodafoneZiggo, to a joint venture owned by DigitalBridge, TD Greystone Infrastructure, and L&G. • The transaction is valued at €669 million ($779 million). • Liberty Global will use the proceeds to reduce debt across the Ziggo Group, which manages its interests in Telenet and VodafoneZiggo.

From rare bacteria to ‘forever chemicals’, a series of cases of violations or alleged pollution has prompted alarmWhen officials in Wyoming conducted a routine test on the water that was being discharged from a massive under-construction Meta datacenter, it was a shock to find it contained a rare and potentially hazardous bacterium.While the wastewater flushed into sewers in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was never destined for the public drinking supply, the presence of Cupriavidus gilardii bacterium in 801,000 gallons of water ejected by a contractor for the datacenter earlier this year was still unnerving. Continue reading...

• SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is planning to launch orbital data centers by late 2027 to support the growing infrastructure needs of artificial intelligence. • Other industry observers disagree with this timeline, suggesting that significant scale for space-based computing is more likely to arrive in the 2030s. • These centers would move massive AI processing loads off-planet, but they require major technical advancements in cooling and power before becoming practical.