Apple Plans to Build Massive $921 Million Danish iCloud Data Center

Apple on Monday announced plans to invest roughly 6 billion Danish crowns ($921 million) building yet another massive data center in Denmark, which will be located in the Germany-bordering province of Aabenraa, according to a statement the company issued to Reuters. 

With construction of the project set to kick off this summer, the Aabenraa data center will commence operations sometime in the second calendar quarter of 2019, according to the report, and will serve as a hub from which Apple will host a myriad of internet services including iCloud, iTunes, Apple Music, and more. “We’re thrilled to be expanding our data center operations in Denmark, and investing in new sources of clean power,” said Apple’s manager of Nordic operations, Erik Stannow, in an email to Reuters, while adding that “The planned facility in Aabenraa, like all of our data centers, will run on 100 percent renewable energy thanks to new clean energy sources we’re adding.”

The billion-dollar Aabenraa data center will join Apple’s other massive iCloud data center in Viborg, Denmark, where operations are expected to commence before the end of the year. Together, the planned facility in Aabenraa and the currently-in-development data center in Viborg will join a third, prospective data center located near Athenry, Ireland, which is currently being sidetracked due to ongoing legal challenges Apple is up against in the Western European nation.

Like all of Apple’s data centers, Aabenraa will be powered by 100% renewable energy, sourced from a variety of wind-, solar-, agricultural-, heat- and water-based mechanisms. In its most recent, 2017 Environmental Responsibility report, Apple noted that it was able to forge a partnership with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, touting the duo’s collaboration on “innovative new ways of capturing [coastal] wave energy” to power the facility, while using the excess energy created by these methods to power buildings. Similarly, Apple plans to utilize “waste heat” from the upcoming Viborg data center to provide local homes with heat.

It’s interesting how Apple appears to be doubling-down on expanding iCloud data centers around the globe — including plans for several expansions right here in the United States.. If anything, it’s a clear indication that the iPhone-maker is thinking boldly about the future, and how demand for iCloud storage is likely to increase as the tech-titan inches closer and closer to becoming the world’s first trillion-dollar corporation.