Three trends set to shape the data center industry in 2025 

By Fredrik Jansson, Chief Strategy and Marketing & Communications Officer 

Now that 2025 is off to a roaring start, we find ourselves brimming with enthusiasm for opportunities ahead. There is quite a lot of change underfoot as we settle into the new year. And the data center industry sits right in the middle of it all, with hundreds of billions in investment forecasted for this year alone.  

New year, new investments 
Hot off the press is the news from the European Union’s launch of InvestAI, an initiative that will see a €200 billion investment into AI infrastructure to facilitate open, collaborative development across Europe.   

Putting monetary investment aside, technology advancements and governmental policies are starting to drive big changes for the industry – both of which are critical for putting our industry at the forefront of sustainability and decarbonization. As the environmental impact of digitalization becomes more widely recognized, our industry has a pivotal role to play in proving sustainability credentials to support modern society.  

Supporting sustainable power & energy resilience 
Electricity is becoming a scarce resource and concerning factor for the industry’s ability to meet demand across much of the world. The surge in AI, HPC, and cloud computing services continues to impact data center capacity and energy consumption levels; yet the availability of reliable power supply doesn’t always scale at the same speed.   

In many areas, adding more energy-intensive data facilities is placing sizable pressure on those already stretched power grids, particularly in urban areas where land, space and capacity are confined. This illustrates why data centers must work hand in hand with energy suppliers and local governments to sustain long-term power availability.  

Fortunately, this is not a trend we see readily in the Nordics, where renewable energy supply is abundant and the electricity grid reliable. Across the region, these grids are being built out to cope with power demand in a sustainable manner. For example, the ability for data centers to go ‘off-grid’ during peak times can help stabilize the grid and balance supply. Similarly, backup battery systems at data centers can store excess energy when the grid is abundant and feed it back during high-demand periods to manage long-term energy resilience.  

Going one step further, as atNorth continues to expand facility space to meet demand, we do this with the circular economy front and center. As with one of my predictions discussed in Techinformed, in some cases, we are retrofitting old, power-hungry paper mills for purpose-built, AI-optimized data centers. In these instances, we may not be consuming new energy but repurposing it in a sustainable way by shifting consumption to a different industry. 

The data center’s role in modern society 
As I discussed in the Amazon Best Selling second volume of Greener Data last year, there are two defining trends of our time: digitalization and sustainability. Being a part of the data center industry affords us the opportunity to help the world become a better place. Our industry has the power to change the way in which we fuel data, which is arguably the most important asset of today’s digital economy.  

atNorth envisions a modern data center that has heat reuse, circular economy principles, innovative cooling and works in tandem with the climate. These practices will set new standards for data center ecosystems, not only reducing the impact of their own existence but actively contributing to a self-sustaining society in the future. 

atNorth’s DEN02 is one such example. Through a collaboration with bio-based waste operations leader, Wa3rm, the new site will support neighboring large-scale greenhouses with the aim to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of importing produce from abroad. In Iceland, we have partnered with AgTech startup, Hringvarmi, to reuse excess heat to power food production.  

We believe heat reuse will become a ‘norm’ this year. In partnership with local energy provider, Stockholm Exergi, our SWE01 site uses the excess heat from the infrastructure cooling process to provide heating and hot water for surrounding homes. This process can reduce the pressure on national grids by decreasing the amount of power needed for these processes. 

Above and beyond: how people will drive industry change
Another trend we hope to see emerge this year is where our industry recognizes the importance of diversity – in both inspiring creativity and innovation.  

At atNorth, we purposefully recruit for mindset and train for success. Our people are from different countries, cultures and industries with different levels of education and experience. While we are based across the world, we bring everyone together at our annual company retreat to share our unique ways of thinking, problem-solving, and approaching challenges. It’s these individual ideas, outlooks and skillsets that have been a huge factor in our ability to scale quickly and effectively.  We’ve seen this in action, and we believe this diversity of thought and experience drives meaningful transformation. Another one of my predictions was reported in Data Center Knowledge, where I anticipate that this coming year could bring real change in skillset shortages and innovation. By fostering an inclusive culture that values diverse perspectives, we can stay ahead of the rapidly evolving market and set new benchmarks for what data centers can achieve.