Microsoft is to invest billions of dollars into AI infrastructure in Sweden.
The company this week announced it would invest 33.7 billion kronor ($3.2 billion) over two years in cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Sweden.
The company will expand its three data centers in Sweden and train 250,000 people by 2027 to boost AI skills.
Microsoft said it will place more than 20,000 graphic processing units (GPUs) at its data centers in Sandviken, Gävle, and Staffanstorp. Further details weren't disclosed.
"Microsoft's largest investment in our history in Sweden" would enable the Scandinavian country "to build world-leading AI data center infrastructure," the company's president and vice chair Brad Smith said at a press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
"A big part of the reason we're able to do this is because of Sweden's forward-looking energy policy, the plentiful access to green energy, whether it's carbon-free energy or renewable energy," Smith said.
Microsoft opened its Sweden Central Azure cloud region in late 2021. It has deployed a battery storage system in lieu of backup generators.
Plans to expand the Staffanstorp data center were dropped in 2022, with Microsoft said to be looking for alternative expansion sites, claiming the site’s permitted capacity would not be enough.
The company recently signed a large carbon capture deal with Stockholm Exergi to remove carbon from an upcoming biomass plant in Sweden.
Microsoft has been touring the world of late, announcing major AI investments in the likes of France, Wisconsin, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and others.
