Data centers are evolving quickly, with the advent of LLM and the need for bigger, more powerful chips. Traditional data centers with their central processing units (CPUs) managed around 12 kilowatts (kW) per rack. However, AI data centers are trending upwards quite rapidly as graphics processing units (GPUs) begin to dominate the scene while becoming increasingly more powerful. This trend is accelerating quickly. Nvidia’s H100 chip has a rack density of 41 kW, while the successor Blackwell chip has an expected rack density of 130 kW, and future chips may drive rack densities of 250 kW. More capacity and electricity consumption will create significantly more waste heat, making it more challenging to maintain an optimal temperature of between 21 and 24 degrees Celsius.

Sustainability has always been a part of our DNA here at Verne. Our Nordic locations give us a tremendous advantage, but we don’t take that for granted. We are always looking at innovative ways to minimise the environmental impact of our data center operations.

The data center industry will be defined by three critical challenges in 2025: power availability, sustainability, and innovation in design. With AI driving exponential demand for high-performance computing, operators must rethink how they source energy, optimize efficiency, and future-proof infrastructure. As AI fuels explosive demand for high-performance data centers, the question remains: how will we as an industry rise to meet these challenges? At Verne, we’ve been tackling these issues for more than a decade, building the expertise and solutions needed to navigate this evolving landscape. In this blog, I want to share my predictions on the challenges we face, their potential impact, and why I believe the Nordics hold the key to solving them.

Verne is proud to announce a significant milestone: achieving EN 50600 certification for one of our data halls in Iceland. As the first data center operator in Iceland to earn this rigorous certification, Verne is setting a new benchmark for reliability, energy efficiency, and operational excellence. This achievement was made possible through our partnership with TÜV NORD, a globally recognized certification body with extensive expertise in assessing high-quality industry standards.