Garbe Data Centers is not alone in its plans for Business Park Falster. Behind the German data centre developer are investors and partners with experience from some of the world's largest tech and cloud companies, and this raises expectations about who might move into Nordfalster.
Mayor Simon Hansen (S) says that the municipality has thoroughly familiarised itself with who they are collaborating with.
- We have, of course, informed ourselves about who they have collaborated with previously and also expect that some of them will become customers of the data centre, he says.
Experience from the world's largest
Garbe Data Centers is headquartered in Hamburg and has built data centres in several European countries.
Deputy Mayor from Guldborgsundlisten, John Brædder, says that they have deliberately sought a buyer who has experience in building data centres before. And therefore also has access to potential customers who will fill the large construction with massive amounts of data.
- It could easily end up with some names that people know. But there could also be entirely new names in play.
The upcoming facility will be established as an AI Data Center Campus, where several units can be built side by side. The concept means that there can be room for both smaller companies needing heavy data processing and the big players who drive the world's cloud and AI infrastructure.
With this type of customers in play, we are talking about companies that develop artificial intelligence, handle enormous amounts of data, or provide cloud services for everything from streaming to finance and industry.
In Germany, the company has built facilities for Alphabet, which is behind Google, and the investors behind GARBE have previously collaborated with Amazon Web Services (AWS). The absolute heavyweight in the global cloud industry.
From streaming to intelligence
Many think of online shopping and perhaps streaming when the conversation turns to Jeff Bezos and Amazon. But AWS is the largest source of income for one of the world's richest men. It is the world's largest provider of cloud infrastructure and operates data platforms for millions of companies and institutions. Customers range from Netflix to Pfizer, which uses AWS for vaccine research and data processing. Volkswagen, Ferrari, LinkedIn, and L’Oréal also use AWS for everything from production and AI analysis to customer service and global logistics.
But AWS's portfolio does not stop at the private business sector. In the USA, both the CIA and FBI use a special, closed version of AWS, called GovCloud, to handle classified data and national security.
The digital map
If the GARBE project in Business Park Falster is carried out as planned, the facility will have an electricity connection of up to 350 megawatts. This will place the project among the largest in Denmark in terms of energy consumption.
By comparison, Apple's data centre in Viborg is approved for around 200 megawatts, Meta in Odense is around 300, Google in Fredericia around 440, and Microsoft is planning a facility outside Køge with a connection of up to 300 megawatts.
