The Nordics are a set of major cities and surrounding areas in the Nordic countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. Although each country is unique, the four share many common characteristics.

Nordic countries are known as some of the healthiest economies in Europe. With a combined population of 27.4 million, the Nordics generate a GDP of $1.6 trillion.

These countries operate on the Nordic Model, a social and economic strategy utilizing a large public sector and higher tax rates to cultivate general public equity, community welfare, and quality of life. The Nordic model is generally viewed as successful, with Nordic countries ranking high on happiness, peace, equality, quality of life, social mobility, and ease of doing business indexes. They also rank highly in average income and cost of living.

Many companies find the Nordics a desirable area to operate in. The regional governments are known to be very business friendly, with minimized bureaucracy and an educated, multi-lingual population. The leading industries for most Nordic countries are typically innovative, with a focus on communications, technology, commerce, and biotechnology.

The Nordic data center markets

Particularly for the data center industry, Nordic markets are highly tech-centric and well connected, both within the markets and internationally through long haul and subsea cables. Power rates are also among the lowest in the world, and renewable energy utilization is among the highest.

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital of Sweden, the largest Nordic city by population, and the largest data center market in the Nordic region with nearly 70 MW of commissioned power. Some of the largest providers in the market include Equinix, Interxion, and the Stockhom-based Conapto.

Oslo

The Oslo data center market is roughly half the size of Stockholm, from a commissioned power perspective, but currently has more opportunity for future data center growth. While most of the facilities currently online in Oslo are small, there are multiple data centers planned or in development that will offer over 10 MW of commissioned power once delivered. Most of the providers active in Oslo are native to the Nordics.

Helsinki

Helsinki is the easternmost Nordic market, and is viewed as a strategic connectivity hub. The market has access to multiple subsea cables, linking the Nordics, Russia, and greater Europe. Equinix is the largest provider in Helsinki, along with other telecom and colocation providers.

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the smallest of the Nordic markets from a colocation perspective with less that 30 MW of commissioned power. It is, however, highly attractive for enterprise and hyperscale owned and operated data center development. Most of the providers active in Copenhagen are native to the Nordics or Europe.

Nordic data center growth and hyperscale development

The Nordics are an emerging market, gaining attention due to the needs of today’s data center users. The robust connectivity options, and favorable economic structures make the Nordics a premier area of opportunity for data center operators.

While the bulk of colocation data center development occurs in the capital cities, hyperscale companies like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft find incredible value operating in the Nordic countries, and continue to invest in large campuses throughout the area.

We anticipate continued growth and success for these markets as they shift from domestic retail colocation to competing on an international scale.

Get a clearer view of data center markets

For an in depth look at any of the Nordic markets like Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm, and Oslo, request a demo of the datacenterHawk platform.