Stockholm (NordSIP) – The challenge of supporting the rapidly growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry received a boost on 5 March 2025 with the announcement by Nordic fund manager Areim of a €450 million capital raise for its data centre-focused DC fund.
Areim became the majority owner of Sweden’s EcoDataCenter in 2018. The company’s facilities aim to minimise carbon emissions as of the design construction phase and operate on 100% renewable energy. With technology giants like Microsoft struggling to rein in and offset their ballooning greenhouse gas emissions there is growing demand for greater sustainability in the data centres that underpin the boom in AI.
Having acquired full ownership of EcoDataCenter in 2023, Areim intends to use the capital injection to expand its network of data centres. Leif Andersson, founder of Areim and Chairman of EcoDataCenter explains: “When we first decided to invest in EcoDataCenter, we saw the inherent potential in sustainable data centres to meet the rising demand for digital infrastructure. A lot has happened since, and data centres now form fundamental building blocks of this infrastructure, regardless of the data loads’ origins and use. We look forward to continuing to lead the development of data centres in the Nordics as the demand for digitalisation and AI keeps rising.”
According to Areim, the capital originates from Nordic and international institutional investors. Real assets have afforded investors uncorrelated, long-term return opportunities well-suited to pension funds and other buy-and-hold strategies. In recent years the asset class has gained additional sustainability credentials with the expansion of renewable energy plants and the digitalisation trend. The boom in demand generated by AI platforms has been such that even major fossil fuel producers have expressed interest in investing in lower carbon power plants dedicated to serving data centres. However, the plans put forward by the liked of Chevron and ExxonMobil rely on liquefied natural gas (LNG) coupled with carbon capture, use, and storage (CCuS), which most environmental organisations do not consider truly sustainable.
EcoDataCenter’s facilities operate on genuine renewable energy, heat reuse, and efficiency measures that according to external ratings provider EcoVadis place the company in the world’s top 1% in sustainability terms.
Image courtesy of Andi Perdana from Pixabay
Stockholm (NordSIP) – The challenge of supporting the rapidly growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry received a boost on 5 March 2025 with the announcement by Nordic fund manager Areim of a €450 million capital raise for its data centre-focused DC fund.
Areim became the majority owner of Sweden’s EcoDataCenter in 2018. The company’s facilities aim to minimise carbon emissions as of the design construction phase and operate on 100% renewable energy. With technology giants like Microsoft struggling to rein in and offset their ballooning greenhouse gas emissions there is growing demand for greater sustainability in the data centres that underpin the boom in AI.
Having acquired full ownership of EcoDataCenter in 2023, Areim intends to use the capital injection to expand its network of data centres. Leif Andersson, founder of Areim and Chairman of EcoDataCenter explains: “When we first decided to invest in EcoDataCenter, we saw the inherent potential in sustainable data centres to meet the rising demand for digital infrastructure. A lot has happened since, and data centres now form fundamental building blocks of this infrastructure, regardless of the data loads’ origins and use. We look forward to continuing to lead the development of data centres in the Nordics as the demand for digitalisation and AI keeps rising.”
According to Areim, the capital originates from Nordic and international institutional investors. Real assets have afforded investors uncorrelated, long-term return opportunities well-suited to pension funds and other buy-and-hold strategies. In recent years the asset class has gained additional sustainability credentials with the expansion of renewable energy plants and the digitalisation trend. The boom in demand generated by AI platforms has been such that even major fossil fuel producers have expressed interest in investing in lower carbon power plants dedicated to serving data centres. However, the plans put forward by the liked of Chevron and ExxonMobil rely on liquefied natural gas (LNG) coupled with carbon capture, use, and storage (CCuS), which most environmental organisations do not consider truly sustainable.
EcoDataCenter’s facilities operate on genuine renewable energy, heat reuse, and efficiency measures that according to external ratings provider EcoVadis place the company in the world’s top 1% in sustainability terms.
Image courtesy of Andi Perdana from Pixabay
