Data centers: The cloud and AI development act

The reasons behind the Proposal are the EU's limited data center capacity, posing a significant threat to its ability to benefit from the digital transformation, and its pronounced dependence on a limited pool of third-country providers. The Proposal aims to address these issues by making it easier and faster to deploy sustainable cloud and data center infrastructure, while keeping the market open to partners. 

To succeed, the Proposal establishes a Cloud Leadership Initiative and an AI Leadership Initiative ("Cloud and AI Leadership Initiative") that will pursue the objective of promoting research and innovation activities and achieving large-scale capacity throughout the EU's cloud and AI ecosystem. This includes the operational objective of supporting the development and deployment of advanced data center technologies incorporating principles of energy efficiency and resource efficiency by design and throughout operations. 

Under this operational objective, the Proposal sets out that the Cloud and AI Leadership Initiative shall, among other things, advance: 

• energy- and water-efficiency technologies for data centers (including innovative cooling),
• next-generation direct current data centers,
• waste heat utilization solutions, and
• energy storage systems. 
   

Data centers will be leveraged as anchor clients for advanced energy management systems harnessing diverse energy sources alongside efficient energy storage solutions.

Member states are required to establish a national cloud and AI strategy, and the strategy shall include measures to support the deployment of data center capacity, with a particular focus on high-value data centers delivering significant economic and societal benefits while adhering to high environmental and energy-efficient standards. Measures to invest in high-intensity computing infrastructure, including AI factories, AI gigafactories and quantum computers as strategic national and cross-border assets supporting research, development and industrial AI deployment across strategic sectors must also be included in the strategy. 

The Proposal introduces the concept of data center acceleration zones and several measures to streamline the issuance of necessary permits within each zone:

• Member states shall prepare and issue an aggregated baseline permit authorizing the deployment of data centers, covering the permits and administrative authorizations required for the data center project, excluding installation-specific permits. 
   
• Administrative applications related to planning, construction and the operation of data centers deployed in acceleration zones shall be processed in an efficient, transparent and timely manner, and the procedure shall not exceed 12 months (from the moment a comprehensive application has been submitted).
   

Data center projects deployed in acceleration zones are also supposed to be considered as strategic projects which render the projects eligible for further measures aimed at speeding up permitting. 

Norway is not part of the EU, which means that additional steps will be required before the regulation enters into force here compared to EU member states. However, this sends a clear signal to Norwegian providers of energy-efficiency technologies, cooling systems, waste heat utilisation solutions, and so on, that the European market will grow in the future. Such signals create opportunities but may also increase competition. The value of measures to protect intellectual property and trade secrets may therefore increase going forward. 

Furthermore, Norway is a country that, due to its geography and cold climate, is an attractive location for the data center industry. The Proposal has also been designated as EEA-relevant by the Commission. For these reasons, it appears likely that the domestic market will grow.