Iceland data centres set record investment of 57bn krónur

Investment in Iceland’s data centre sector is expected to reach a record 57 billion Icelandic krónur this year, while export revenues from the centres and related activities are forecast at 72.2 billion, according to a new analysis by the Federation of Icelandic Industries reported by mbl.is.

A total of 167 billion krónur has been invested in the country’s data centres over the past five years. The analysis says each direct job in the sector has generated a further 4.5 indirect jobs.

About 1,540 people now work in the industry, more than three times as many as in 2022, said Ingólfur Bender, the federation’s chief economist. He described the jobs as highly paid and productive, and said activity was spread across the country. Municipal authorities and the public have generally welcomed the centres where they have been established, he said.

For comparison, Iceland’s seafood exports were worth 359 billion krónur last year, including 155 billion from cod products. This year’s projected export revenues for the data centre sector would amount to almost half the value of cod exports. Bender said that if the sector continued to grow at the same pace, its export revenues could eventually exceed those of the fishing industry. Demand is not lacking, he said.

Bender warned that electricity supply could become a bottleneck. Data centres currently account for 3.7 per cent of Iceland’s total electricity consumption and 4.8 per cent of consumption by large users.

The sector is built around three large international operators: Verne, founded in 2008; atNorth, founded in 2009; and Borealis Data Center, founded in 2014.