atNorth announces data centre expansion in Iceland

Author: Simon Rowley

atNorth, the Nordic colocation, high-performance computing, and AI service provider, has announced the substantial expansion of two of its data centres in Iceland.

The ICE02 campus near Keflavík will gain an additional capacity of 35MW, while the ICE03 site in Akureyri (which opened last year) will gain additional capacity of 16MW. Both sites have surplus space for further expansion in line with future demand.

Both data centre sites are highly energy efficient, operating at a maximum PUE of 1.2, and will also be able to accommodate the latest in air and liquid cooling technologies, depending on customer preference. The initial phase of ICE02’s expansion became operational in Q3 2024 and all further phases for both sites are expected to be completed in the first half of 2025.

The innovative design of the data centres caters to data-intensive businesses that require high-density infrastructure for high-performance computing. The sites currently accommodate companies such as Crusoe, Advania, RVX, DNV, Opera, BNP Paribas, and Tomorrow.io.

As part of atNorth’s ongoing commitment to sustainability and collaboration, the business has also entered into a partnership with AgTech startup, Hringvarmi, to recycle excess heat for use in food production. As part of this agreement, Hringvarmi will place its Generation 1 prototype module within ICE03 to test the concept of transforming ‘data into dinner’ by utilising waste heat to grow microgreens in collaboration with the food producer, Rækta Microfarm

“We are delighted to be part of atNorth’s innovative data centre ecosystem”, says Justine Vanhalst, Co-Founder of Hringvarmi. “Our partnership aims to boost Iceland’s agriculture industry to lessen the need for imported produce and contribute to Iceland’s circular economy”.

The expansion plans reflect the huge demand, both domestically and internationally for atNorth’s sustainable data centre solutions. Data intensive businesses, including hyperscalers and companies that run AI and High-Performance Computing workloads, recognise the quality of the digital infrastructure available and are attracted by Iceland’s advantageous location. The country benefits from a consistently cool climate and an abundance of renewable energy in addition to fully redundant connectivity and a highly skilled workforce.

“We are experiencing a considerable increase in interest in our highly energy efficient, sustainable data centres”, says Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson, CEO at atNorth. “We have power agreements and building permits in place and will meet this demand as part of our ongoing sustainable expansion strategy”.

atNorth operates seven data centres in four of the five Nordic countries and currently has four new data centre sites in development: two in Finland (FIN02 in Helsinki and FIN04 in Kouvola), and two in Denmark (DEN01 in the Ballerup region and DEN02 in Ølgod in Varde).

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