Microsoft announced it will build three new data centers in Sealand. The announcement was done by Microsoft director Nana Bule at the headquarters in Lyngby. Bule was accompanied by DI director Lars Sandahl and finance minister Nicolai Wammen
The announcement came just one week after Tech Monitor declared Denmark the best place in the world to build a data center (with Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Norway also ranking in the top 10).
Microsoft announced it's target to reduce the amount of waste to around zero by 2030 a couple of months ago and building the new data centers in Denmark will contribute to this goal, since the data centers will exclusively use electricity from renewable energy.
“This is a proud day for Microsoft in Denmark,” said Brad Smith, President, Microsoft. “Building a hyper-scale datacenter in Denmark means we’ll store Danish data in Denmark, make computing more accessible at even faster speeds, secure data with our world-class security, protect data with Danish privacy laws, and do more to provide to the people of Denmark our best digital skills training. This investment reflects our deep appreciation of Denmark’s green and digital leadership globally and our commitment to its future.”
“The Government’s ambition is for Denmark to emerge from COVID-19 even greener, stronger and more socially just. We have initiated a green recovery of the Danish economy and launched a new strategy for green public procurement, contributing towards our ambitious climate targets. Today, datacenters and IT solutions represent a considerable part of carbon emissions from public procurement in Denmark, so we see a big potential to reduce our climate footprint. I’m pleased to see that businesses are embracing the government’s climate ambitions and taking responsibility for creating a green, digital future. This underlines Denmark’s leading position in both the green and digital transition,” said Nicolai Wammen, Danish Minister of Finance.
Digital upskilling for Denmark’s workforce
As part of the investment in a new data centre region, Microsoft is taking the initiative to upgrade the competencies of 200,000 Danes digitally by 2024. The plan includes comprehensive technical training programs and Azure certifications of partners and users as well as digital educational opportunities for children and young people.
Through Linkedin Learning, Microsoft will also provide free access to courses and tools for job search as well as facilitate access to certifications for job seekers and the unemployed. Furthermore, Microsoft will double their investment in deep technical competencies and secure the IT experts of the future. This year, the company has increased the investment in technical training and certification in Cloud technology at our customers and partners by DKK 25 mio.
