The company said it has a data center presence in Gävle, Sandviken, and Staffanstorp. First announced in November 2020, the combined region is known as Sweden Central.
“As Swedish industries and enterprises look to adopt and innovate on Microsoft’s platform, our data center investments build on our portfolio of products and services while meeting important data residency, security, and compliance needs,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith.
Microsoft’s Sweden data center region will be powered by 100 percent carbon-free energy with 24/7 hourly energy matching with partner Vattenfall. Microsoft has signed agreements for new renewable energy projects with bp, Enlight Renewable Energy, European Energy, NTR, Prime Capital, and wpd.
Sweden is Microsoft’s first data center region to run backup generators using Preem Evolution Diesel Plus. The fuel contains at least 50 percent renewable raw material, and nearly an equivalent reduction in net carbon dioxide emissions compared with standard fossil diesel blends.
The facilities will be cooled with outside air 100 percent of the year, and rainwater will be captured at the data center and primarily used to provide humidification and to support onsite data center facilities.
“Our Swedish data centers are among the most sustainably designed and operated in the world. This is an important launch for Sweden and Europe, as I am of the firm conviction that new tech innovation is the most important enabler for the world to reach the global sustainability targets,” said Hélène Barnekow, general manager Microsoft Sweden.
Swedish customers using Azure include Combitech, Handelsbanken, PostNord, and Sandvik Coromant.
“The Microsoft cloud technology is a crucial part to Handelsbanken’s strategic focus in the areas of modernization of critical business applications and agile development cycles,” said Mattias Forsberg, CIO of Handelsbanken.
“The opening of Microsoft data center region in Sweden shows us that they are committed to the digital success of Sweden, an important factor for PostNord when selecting Microsoft as our strategic cloud provider,” added Jörgen Hellberg, CIO PostNord.
The new Swedish region will also be home to Microsoft’s third European Circular Center, which repurposes servers and hardware in its data centers; the Center will have the ability to support 12,000 servers per month.
The company began building a data center near Malmö back in 2019, following land purchases in Gävle and Sandviken.
