Search engines and other online services increasingly use artificial intelligence. The spread of AI services increases the capacity need of data centers in the Nordic countries by about 30 percent annually. For example, an internet search using artificial intelligence requires at least 5-10 times more power than a traditional Google search, according to various estimates. Therefore, 4 MW more capacity is currently being built in the Telia Helsinki Data Center.
"Machines that perform artificial intelligence calculations consume a lot of electricity when calculating. Our challenge is to get all that electricity delivered to a very small space and also remove the heat generated as a result of use from the space in a controlled manner. The heat collected from the data center is transferred to the district heating network to be distributed to thousands of homes and properties in Helsinki," says Matti Tella, director of Telia Helsinki Data Center.
Need for data center power has increased
Telia Helsinki Data Center was built on Helsinki's Pitäjänmäki in 2018 to offer colocation or server facilities for use by various customers. The 34,000 square meter data center was designed to be flexible and as energy efficient as possible. "With a modular structure, we ensured the expansion possibilities of the data center, because the world and our customers' needs are changing," says Michael Holm, Telia's Global Sector Lead.
With the increase in artificial intelligence services, server facilities are now also needed by new types of operators. "There are a lot of new players on the AI front whose need for data center power has suddenly increased to tens of megawatts. That means hundreds of new racks and an investment of tens of millions of euros," says Holm. Therefore, Telia Helsinki Data Center is currently building 4 MW more capacity, which will be completed in early 2025.
Fitting more power into existing m²
According to forecasts, the need for data processing required by artificial intelligence will increase the capacity of data centers enormously and at an ever faster pace. This is what Jari Innanen believes , who works as a business director at Granlund, a planning and consulting company specializing in data center design.
According to Innanen, in future investments, data centers must modify their use of space in order to fit more power into the existing square meters. "The conversion flexibility brought by modularity provides good conditions for increasing the power capacity."
Granlund works as a planning partner for Telia's data center projects. Changes are often required, for example, to cooling solutions and electricity distribution methods.
