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Facebook mulls second Denmark data centre campus with 300 football pitches-sized land plot acquisition

This is Denmark’s second largescale land plot acquisition by an American hyperscaler this week following Google.

By João Marques Lima

Founder and Editor, The Tech Capital

3 Mins

October 14, 2021 | 3:30 AM BST

Facebook mulls second Denmark data centre campus with 300 football pitches-sized land plot acquisition

Facebook’s first Denmark data centre opened in September 2019 in Odense. Source: Facebook

The Tech Capital

US social media giant Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) has acquired a 212-hectare plot-of-land in Denmark for DKK277 million (US$43.14 million) where the company is currently studying the feasibility of building a data centre.

The investment was announced by the Esbjerg Municipality, a municipality in Southern Denmark on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula and less than 300Km away from the capital Copenhagen.

Jesper Frost Rasmussen, Mayor of the Esbjerg Municipality, said: “I am very happy that Facebook is back in Esbjerg and now again investigating the possibilities of establishing a data centre in Andrup. The signing of the purchase contract is just the first milestone in this process.

“The establishment of a data centre will be completely in line with our ambitions to become a data hub, and at the same time the construction and operation of a new data centre will be able to attract additional companies in the field to Esbjerg and create synergies with our current companies.”

The piece of land was originally acquired by Facebook on or before October 2018. However, in March 2019 the company decided to not move ahead with plans to build on the plot which led the Esbjerg City Council to acquire the land itself.

Lukasz Lindell, Facebook’s spokesperson, said: “We recently resumed our studies of Esbjerg as a possible site for a future data centre and bought 212 hectares of land.

“In the coming months, some initial, preparatory work will be carried out, which will help to support the further development of the area.

“The construction of a data centre does not start until a final investment decision has been made. We are also pleased to collaborate with such a good team in our studies of how Esbjerg can possibly support our business’ future needs.”

Facebook operates 18 data centres globally, 14 of them in the US. The company first established its footprint in Denmark in September 2019 when it brought online its Odense data centre.

The site is a two-building, 50,000 sq m (538,000 sq ft) facility which is currently undergoing a DKK10bn ($1.5 billion) expansion to add 30,000 sq m (323,000 sq ft) of space.

Denmark has been having a good week in the hyperscaler market as Facebook’s land acquisition follows Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) same move earlier in the week.

The search engine has acquired a 121,686 sqm/1.3 million sq ft piece-of-land from the Fredericia Municipality.

The plot in the Princess’ Quarter in Taulov is located next to the existing hosting facility and has been sold by local authorities for a potential future extension of the site.

In addition to the acquired land, the Fredericia Municipality has also approved Google’s purchase right of an extra 375,000 sqm/4.03 million sq ft piece of land at the same site.

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João Marques Lima

Founder and Editor, The Tech Capital

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