How many data centers are there in Sweden? No one knows.

The development of data centers has exploded in recent years, with Sweden positioning itself as a potential hotspot for future development. Despite consuming huge amounts of energy and water and representing an environmental threat, the industry in Sweden remains loosely regulated and massively lacking in transparency.

Our investigation uncovered the extent of the data centers operating in Sweden.

You wouldn’t notice it from above. But far below one of Gothenburg’s prime barbeque spots, beneath hundreds of tonnes of rock, and carved into solid granite, sits a data center. First designed as an air raid shelter in World War II, the bunker now protects one of modern society’s most precious resources. Its military grade security and the ability to withstand nuclear blasts are both explicitly listed as selling points for prospective clients, who handle some of the most sensitive data in Sweden.
 

Sweden is one of the most digitalised countries in the world. Our society has become increasingly reliant on the constant transfer and stream of data, for everything from social media profiles and memes to government and health data  We have ditched cash, and linked BankID to everything and anything. That is not to mention the data and energy hungry rise of AI models.

This reliance on data makes us vulnerable, and the Bahnhof Bunker is one of a new breed of data centers being developed in Sweden designed to appeal to critical infrastructure providers in the face of a precarious global landscape.

The importance of these data centers to sensitive security matters – as well as the lucrative commercial opportunities presented by AI data centers – however, have resulted in an industry that is largely hidden from society. Given their potential to have a massive impact upon on energy grids, the environment and the functioning and future of our society, this leaves civil society with a huge blind spot on a critical issue.

”The importance of these data centers to sensitive security matters – as well as the lucrative commercial opportunities presented by AI data centers – however, have resulted in an industry that is largely hidden from society.”

In Sweden, data centers have not yet gotten much public attention. But international investigations in countries like the United States, Spain and Chile have raised alarms about water consumption, carbon emissions and the effects of locating large facilities close to residential communities.

Besides the well-known environmental issues, some more unexpected ones are now being investigated. A study from Cambridge University, which is still awaiting peer review, suggests that data centers can create “heat islands”, warming the surrounding air by up to 8°C, with impacts felt up to 9 kilometers away. Most recently, ‘infrasound’ – very low frequency noise, inaudible to humans – has been receiving attention, as people living close to hyperscale data centers complain of headaches, insomnia, anxiety and nausea.

Energy is also a major issue for several reasons. One is the sheer amount of electricity demanded. Denmark recently placed a moratorium on data center grid connections for 3 months, after connection requests topped out at 60 gigawatts, which is 9 times the entire nation’s peak energy use. 

While data centers say they are improving their energy efficiency, this does not always translate into less energy used, thanks to a phenomenon called Jevon’s paradox. Essentially, the idea is that increased efficiency results in lower costs for computing, which results in increased demand, pushing energy consumption back up again. Researchers have already begun exploring the extent to which this concept is applying to data centers and AI development, with the environmental implications posed by such issues being significant.

We wanted to test if it was actually possible to get a clear picture of the size and impact of the industry in Sweden. It wasn’t easy. Our team had to  delve into public records, company reports, commercial databases, network connection directories, speak to authorities, experts and industry insiders and employ geolocation techniques to verify our findings.

Despite the many barriers, we managed to create what we believe to be the most up to date public information about which data centers are operating in Sweden. For some cases, we also managed to find out how much energy they consume. But we still couldn’t get hold of everything. In fact, based on the incomplete records, inconsistent reporting and non-public nature of private enterprise data centers (data centers run by companies for their own needs, such as banks or insurance companies), it is almost impossible to accurately know the industry’s true scale. Torbjörn Minde of RISE, Sweden’s state-owned research institute, said that this was a problem for their researchers too, with RISE having no way to access data about private data centers.

Besides authorities lacking clear information, part of what made the task so difficult was Sweden’s increasing reluctance to grant freedom of information requests, making it difficult to access the information they did have. Many of our requests were denied – sometimes on the basis of trade secrets and sometimes with no reason given at all.

This is despite a recent regulation at the EU level that requires data centers to report information on electricity use, water consumption, and energy efficiency. While originally intended to increase transparency, a 2024 amendment to the law severely limited it, with all reported information now required to be kept confidential. Sweden adopted a national version of the legislation in 2025, making Energimyndigheten, the Swedish Energy Agency, responsible for collecting the data outlined within the EU regulations.

We tried to obtain data on the energy consumption of Swedish data centers, but were denied by Energimyndigheten. They said that confidentiality rules applied due to the fact that disclosing the power usage, water consumption and efficiency data could damage the businesses. Besides this, they claimed to have no information pertaining to who the administrators of the data centers subject to the reporting were, or even their physical locations.

At least 132 data centers currently operating in Sweden were identified in our map, but due to the above mentioned issues, we believe that there are many more data centers that are yet to be revealed.

”The issue is shaping up to be a clear contested issue during the election. But, if we want to have a truly democratic decision-making, it seems clear that transparency needs to increase.”

As the data center industry continues to expand, it is essential that the public has access to comprehensive and robust information about the industry and its impacts. The current state of regulation in Sweden is not conducive to this aim. For a country that prides itself on principles of transparency and open democracy, this is a problem.

As the elections approach, the issue of data centers and their positive and negative impact upon society, as well as the question of their necessity in a modern society have finally reached the highest levels of Swedish politics. While industry groups try to prevent further regulation of the sector, others want to take time to ensure the new industry is really benefiting society and indeed the economy. During a recent debate in the Riksdag, Isak From of the Social Democrats raised the issue of energy consumption: “If politics is not ready, we risk a power shortage, electricity prices skyrocketing and other industries risking being squeezed out. This can hit local businesses and jobs hard. “

The issue is shaping up to be a clear contested issue during the election. But, if we want to have a truly democratic decision-making, it seems clear that transparency needs to increase. Because the public can’t make informed decisions on something, for either people or nature, if we aren’t even allowed to know the basics. 

By Gia-Uyen Tran, Kristina Lourenço Ribeiro and Liam McAneny