Norwegian business executives have a good impression of the Norwegian data center industry, according to a survey carried out by Sentio for the Norwegian Data Center Industry. Only six percent of those questioned are negative or very negative.
The survey is part of the report The Norwegian Datacenter Industry 20 23-2024, which was published in Norwegian last month and now also has an English version.
The findings show that, in general, Norwegian business has a good impression of the data center industry, despite the high level of attention and heated debate surrounding energy needs and new establishments in recent years. We are experiencing a growing understanding that data centers constitute society's digital backbone, and thus a prerequisite for hospitals, mobile networks, public transport, power plants and a number of other businesses to function, says Bjørn Rønning, general manager of Norsk Datasenterindustri.
The Sentio survey shows that 31 percent of the respondents are either positive or very positive about the data center industry in Norway. 49 per cent of those questioned have a neutral relationship with the industry, five per cent are negative and only 1 per cent say they are very negative.
An increasingly large employer with significant local ripple effects
To ensure that future debates around the establishment of data centers in Norway are based on facts, the Norwegian Data Center Industry has prepared the report Data Center Industry in Norway 2023-2024. This is the first time that quality-assured figures have been published showing the number of man-years, energy consumption and installed energy capacity at Norwegian data centres.
The data center industry in Norway is growing rapidly and will employ over 2,300 people in 2023. Our members have become major employers in a number of Norwegian municipalities, and will become more important as the industry grows, says Rønning.
The number of full-time employees as of December 2023 was 646. Of these, 328 are employed in the data center companies and 318 are hired full-time from specialized subcontractors. Use of local subcontractors is extensive, and in 2023 the data center industry will have purchased goods and services and used personnel from 810 Norwegian businesses. A total of 1,688 employees at subcontractors have been engaged full-time for the data center industry in 2023. This is primarily due to the implementation of large development projects, an activity that is expected to increase in the years ahead.
