Microsoft announced that it will invest 33.7 billion Swedish crowns ($3.2 billion) to expand its cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Sweden over a two-year period.
The rising popularity of generative AI has fueled demand for cloud services, prompting companies like Microsoft and Amazon Web Services to invest billions of dollars to build data centers in Europe. Microsoft has previously invested in data centers in the U.K., Germany, and Spain.
“You will see some other announcements, probably more in the fall,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith.
Expanding AI infrastructure in Sweden
As part of the expansion, Microsoft plans to deploy 20,000 of the most advanced graphics processing units (GPUs) at its Swedish data center sites in Sandviken, Gavle, and Staffanstorp. The company will use Nvidia’s faster processors and may also incorporate semiconductors from AMD and some of its own chips.
The race to develop powerful generative AI programs has led to a surge in demand for advanced chips that can support these complex applications. Microsoft said it is committed to boosting AI adoption across the Nordic region, which includes Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway.
Read more: Google to invest $2 billion in data center and cloud region in Malaysia
Training Swedes in AI skills
The company also plans to train 250,000 Swedes with AI skills within organizations, schools, universities, the public sector, and society at large over the next three years. Microsoft is also investing in renewable energy and has procured nearly 1,000 MW of renewable energy in Sweden.
AI boom as trillion-dollar opportunity
Moreover, Goldman Sachs sees the AI boom as a near-$1 trillion opportunity for the sector as tech companies invest in data centers to train their power-hungry large language models.
“AI is a tech transformation that should be seen as a multiplier or catalyst … It is part of the strategy going forward when, after successfully fighting inflation, we enter a new phase, an investment phase,” said Ulf Kristersson, Prime Minister of Sweden.
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