“Today, Denmark has taken on a global role as a recognized data center hub, hosting data centers for several leading tech companies. However, it hasn’t happened by itself,” explains Henrik Hansen, CEO of the Data Center Industry.

Today, Denmark is a top priority for international tech companies’ data centers and colocation data center operators in Northern Europe. However, we haven’t always been an obvious choice. Historically, areas near Europe’s economic powerhouses—Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, and Paris, known as the FLAP cities—were the first choices. But now, we see growing interest in Denmark and the Nordic region,” explains Henrik Hansen, CEO of the Danish Data Center Industry Association.

When the Giants Recognized Denmark’s Digital Advantages
“Previously, we didn’t see these massive data centers in Denmark. It wasn’t until 2015 when Apple announced that they had chosen Foulum near Viborg for their large data center project that the industry really took off in Denmark. Just two years later, Meta (formerly Facebook) followed. Since then, it has been one success after another. I believe it’s hard to find industries that have invested more in Denmark over the past seven years than the data center industry, which is on par with the pharmaceutical industry. This is also why the Danish Data Center Industry Association was founded in 2017.”
Most people were surprised when Apple announced their entry into Denmark with their Foulum data center in early 2015. However, this came after three years of dedicated efforts from Invest in Denmark, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to spark Apple’s interest. They succeeded in showcasing Denmark’s advantages as a data center location, and Viborg Municipality managed to offer something different than what was available in the established FLAP cities.

“I was involved in the work at Viborg Municipality, and we quickly realized that Denmark’s position in renewable energy was crucial, as was our digital infrastructure and social stability. These factors continue to be decisive selling points when Denmark positions itself as a relevant alternative to the established FLAP data center cities, which have historically won out by offering low latency.”

Sustainability and ESG: New Selling Points
“Today, latency is less important as a selling point. Instead, ESG and sustainability are especially significant to companies operating data centers. They are keen to minimize energy consumption in running our digital society.”

“This can be achieved by locating close to the latest knowledge and expertise to develop more energy-efficient technologies, such as cooling. Locations are also evaluated based on whether they are in a country with up-to-date legislation that allows for practices like reusing excess heat. Most importantly, there must be access to renewable energy. This is where Denmark has a crucial advantage.”

National Focus on Growth Opportunities
Henrik Hansen participated in the efforts to bring Apple to Viborg in 2015. He saw the potential to support international efforts to raise awareness of Denmark as a data center location through a national initiative via a dedicated industry association. This led to the founding of the Danish Data Center Industry Association in 2017 by relevant stakeholders, including 360 Law Firm, which remains active on the board today.

“In the Danish Data Center Industry Association, we have brought together players who operate, develop, service, and educate for the data center industry. This is a broad membership base, so we consider our member network more like an ecosystem. The competencies gathered in the association ensure our increasingly digitized society functions smoothly. At the heart of this digitization are the data centers, without which much of our digital society would not function.”

“Our broad base means we are both an effective and relevant association. In our dialogue with political decision-makers, we have the weight necessary to maintain interest and create understanding for the growth opportunities data centers bring.”

“Deciding to build a new data center brings job creation opportunities during the construction phase. The operation also requires specialized knowledge, such as setting up emergency power systems. Additionally, both pre-decision and post-establishment advice are needed. In the legal area, for example, construction law is relevant during the building of data centers, and placing parts of an international company in Denmark creates ongoing advisory needs. Even though a data center does not require many employees itself, it still represents growth opportunities in the surrounding ecosystem. Increased focus on sustainable solutions also pushes innovation in Danish research environments to world-class levels through collaborations,” explains Henrik Hansen.

Henrik Hansen

CEO of the Danish Data Center Industry Association

“Having a law firm with industry experience and knowledge of international business operations is relevant in many contexts for companies active in the data center industry. Choosing 360 Law Firm as an advisor is beneficial, especially for more complex cases, given their industry knowledge.”

“Recently, we worked with 360 Law Firm on establishing the Net Zero Innovation Hub for Data Centers. 360 Law Firm helped set the framework and procedures for this pan-European initiative, involving four major international players: Danfoss, Google, Microsoft, and Schneider Electric. It was a complex task that was very well executed.”

360 Law Firm’s Activities in the Data Center Industry

Ulrik Fleischer-Michaelsen, co-founder of 360 Law Firm, has been involved in the Danish Data Center Industry Association since before its official launch in March 2017. In addition to his role on the board, he was part of the founding working group, leading the legal efforts.

“There are many facets when new players enter the Danish data center market, such as legislation, tax issues, and employment. It’s great to have a partner who knows the industry and is engaged in it. This is why 360 Law Firm is a good partner, both for us and for the companies we recommend to 360 Law Firm,” explains Henrik Hansen, CEO of the Danish Data Center Industry Association.

“Having a law firm specializing in large infrastructure projects and understanding international business operations is relevant in many contexts for companies active in the data center industry. The fact that 360 Law Firm also has industry-specific knowledge makes them a valuable advisor, even for more complex cases.”

“Recently, we worked with 360 Law Firm on the establishment of the Net Zero Innovation Hub for Data Centers. 360 Law Firm helped set the framework and procedures for this pan-European initiative. It was a complex task involving four major international players: Danfoss, Google, Microsoft, and Schneider Electric. And it was very well executed.”

About the Danish Data Center Industry Association

The Danish Data Center Industry Association (DDI) was founded in 2017 following Apple and Meta’s investments in data centers in Viborg and Odense, respectively. Today, the industry association has members from across the entire data center ecosystem, including operators, suppliers, consultants, property developers, educational institutions, and municipalities.

The Danish Data Center Industry Association collaborates with organizations representing the data center industries in the five Nordic countries of Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Together, they are coordinating Nordic Data Centre Week, where school students are invited into data centers across the Nordic region to increase interest in a career in the industry and the understanding that they are essential for data usage, streaming and other aspects of digital life.

As a full-service law firm, 360 Law Firm, with its industrial insight and commercial understanding, is ideally positioned to advise on both specific industrial conditions and general business operations.

Global Green Initiatives Stemming from Internal Collaboration
The Danish Data Center Industry Association’s CEO emphasizes that most political decision-makers today see the data center industry as crucial for ensuring growth in Denmark. He also notes increasing interest in finding solutions to the environmental impact of the growing data consumption that digitalizing more parts of our society entails, which manifests in more and larger data centers.

Both politicians and companies operating data centers are interested in minimizing the environmental impact of our digital society. Politically, we see regulation at the EU level, and from the companies’ side, we see international collaborations and investments in renewable energy projects.”

“A good example of this is the establishment of the Net Zero Innovation Hub for Data Centers in 2023. This new collaboration was initially initiated by Danfoss, Google, Microsoft, and Schneider Electric, all members of the Danish Data Center Industry Association. This initiative was started under the association’s auspices and has a pan-European strategy to enable international collaborations that ensure faster development and deployment of new green solutions for data center operations.”

“Where we started with the aim of establishing Denmark internationally as a hyper-scale data center country with the association, we now see that we can begin to use our ecosystem to inspire internationally and create export opportunities. The growing need for larger data centers, for instance, for artificial intelligence, increases the demand and investments in the data center industry in Denmark.”

“If we can continue to stay ahead by collaborating on creating and enabling the rapid implementation of new green solutions, we have a very promising growth case ahead of us,” concludes Henrik Hansen.