EcoDataCenter, a Swedish firm that builds eco-friendly information facilities utilized by main compute suppliers to deal with their AI visitors, has raised practically half a billion {dollars} — $478 million (€450 million) to be precise — in anticipation of extra demand.
The fairness funding, which is coming from a gaggle of unnamed institutional buyers, will likely be used to proceed creating new applied sciences for extra “inexperienced” information facilities and to construct these constructions.
The information comes simply two days after one in every of EDC’s main prospects, the AI compute big CoreWeave, filed for an IPO in the US.
EDC has now raised €910 million ($966 million) in fairness so far. Areim, the holding firm that owns it, declined to say what the corporate’s valuation is. The corporate did affirm that spinning out EDC is just not on the playing cards.
“We’re centered on scaling EcoDataCenter and delivering long-term worth, supported by the sturdy backing of our buyers,” mentioned Robert Björk , an funding supervisor for Areim, and board member EcoDataCenter. “Whereas we repeatedly consider strategic alternatives for the corporate, together with potential future financing choices, an IPO is just not one thing we’re actively pursuing at this stage.”
EcoDataCenter’s focus has been to construct information facilities — particularly, colocation areas the place prospects usher in some or all of their very own servers and associated {hardware} — which might be extra sustainable. It’s a well timed effort: analysis from the International Energy Agency has proven how energy hungry giant information facilities may be.
The IEA has discovered that these information facilities have energy calls for of 100 MW or extra, “with an annual electrical energy consumption equal to the electrical energy demand from round 350,000 to 400,000 electrical vehicles.” The IEA additionally estimated that information facilities collectively account for 1% of all world electrical energy consumption.
In that context, EDC is notable for not simply serving to to satisfy the seemingly insatiable demand for compute capability, however for attempting to do this in an eco-friendly method — one that’s now influencing others.
“We had been the primary firm on this planet to begin constructing in what’s known as cross-laminated timber,” mentioned Peter Michelson EDC’s CEO, in an interview. “Now, Microsoft is following.” EDC additionally makes use of renewable vitality to energy its buildings, and continues to work on new approaches and supplies for extra environment friendly cooling and operations.
EcoDataCenter’s different prospects embrace DeepL and the so-called “hyperscalers.” The latter corporations do construct their very own information facilities, however additionally they load steadiness by taking area in these constructed by third events, like EDC.
Whereas it has numerous prospects that reach exterior of tech reminiscent of BMW, EDC is probably finest generally known as the accomplice of CoreWeave. It’s additionally the distinguished internet hosting supplier for a project in collaboration with CoreWeave and Nvidia to construct the primary Blackwell cluster in Europe, within the Swedish city of Falun, designed to deliver extra compute capability to Europe.
The scale of EDC’s fundraise highlights how useful information facilities — particularly colocation facilities that offset main capex spend for its prospects — have change into within the present hype cycle for AI.
That could be a world surge. Most notably, the U.S. in January introduced Stargate, a $500 billion mission that the U.S. kicked off with assist from OpenAI, SoftBank and others to construct mega AI information facilities. (The plan is just that at this level: introduced days after Trump took workplace, it served to drive residence an idealized image of the brand new administration as not simply tech-friendly, however aggressively so.)
“There’s numerous infrastructure-type capital flooding into the information heart area, provided that it’s actual property infrastructure now turning into extra tech oriented,” mentioned Michelson.
That actual property anchor might present a clue into how the present administration, and notably President Trump — whose skilled life began in actual property — had been bought on their very own large information heart effort.