Microsoft putting a huge $3.2B investment into Swedish AI infrastructure

Microsoft announced that it will expand its cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in Sweden over the next two years, investing a significant 33.7 billion Swedish crowns ($3.2 billion).

This follows a string of comparable announcements about investments made in South East Asia. Microsoft declared that it will invest $1.7 billion in cloud computing and artificial intelligence in Indonesia while pledging to train 100,000 Thai entrepreneurs and establishing an Azure data center in Thailand.

The company also announced that it would be making a $1.5 billion investment in United Arab Emirates.

Expanding AI infrastructure

Furthermore, with this investment, Microsoft plans to expand Sandviken, Gavle, and Staffanstorp, its current data centers, to maximum capacity. To expedite intricate AI computations, 20,000 of the newest graphics processing units (GPUs) will be used.

The tech giant intends to start with NVIDIA processors and eventually use AMD chips and even its own designs.

In addition, in less than three years, the company hopes to train 250,000 Swedes in AI skills, primarily from businesses, institutions, and government agencies.

Not only that, but Microsoft already powers its data centers with almost 1,000 MW of renewable energy that it purchased in Sweden. This comes after it was discovered that Microsoft is using AI to evade its carbon emission targets.

According to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, AI will be a major factor in future economic expansion. After the country overcomes inflation, he sees this transformation as a “multiplier” that will drive it forward.

AI is a tech transformation that should be seen as a multiplier or catalyst … It is part of the strategy going forward when, after successfully fighting inflation, we enter a new phase, an investment phase.

Ulf Kristersson

Microsoft had established a significant foothold in Europe prior to last month’s announcement of France. Furthermore, the company has declared investments of $2.1 billion in cloud and AI infrastructure in Spain, followed by £2.5 billion in the UK and €3.2 billion in Germany.