New investment will be focused on a new large AI facility in Strängnäs, Sweden – says Brookfield
In sum – what you need to know:
Swedish AI infra push – Brookfield will fund a major AI hub in Strängnäs, doubling data center capacity to 750MW and creating thousands of jobs.
Government AI strategy – the initiative strengthens Sweden’s national AI goals and includes cooperation with public authorities, academia and businesses to build sovereign compute capabilities.
Jobs and expansion – Brookfield’s plan includes over 1,000 permanent roles and 2,000 more in construction, marking one of its largest AI investments in Europe.
Canadian multinational investment outfit Brookfield Asset Management has announced an investment of up to SEK 95 billion ($10 billion) with the aim of supporting the development of AI infrastructure in Sweden. It is one of Brookfield’s largest AI investments in Europe, it said, and extends its partnership with the government, public authorities, academia and businesses in the region.
Brookfield also said that this investment will be chiefly focused on a new large AI facility in Strängnäs, Sweden, creating a strategic infrastructure asset to support the country’s national AI strategy. Under this initiative, Brookfield will sign a land allocation agreement, enabling the data center site to more than double its capacity from 300MW to 750MW. The new site will create over 1,000 new permanent jobs and add another 2,000 jobs to support the 10-15 year construction process.
Sikander Rashid, head of Europe at Brookfield, said: “We are pleased to extend our partnership with Sweden and support their ambitions to become a leading AI hub in Europe. To compete in the development of AI and realize its economic productivity, it is important to invest at scale in the infrastructure underpinning this technology. This extends beyond data centers and into data transfer, chip storage and energy generation–today marks another important step for boosting sovereign compute capabilities for both public services and private enterprises in Europe.”
Earlier this year, Brookfield announced a €20 billion ($22.8 billion) infrastructure investment program in France, which includes a €10 billion investment into the first AI factory in the country. This AI facility will create 1GW of new capacity, making it Europe’s largest AI infrastructure cluster.
Rashid considers that the investment opportunity in the AI infra field is huge. “We need the physical infrastructure to achieve the $10 trillion potential productivity gain from AI adoption. And by our reckoning, approximately $7 trillion of investment in physical infrastructure will be required to get there within the next decade alone. Infrastructure investors have a huge role to play through capital allocation into existing power and data center platforms, as well as into emerging AI infrastructure sectors.”
“I would add that the way we think about AI infrastructure is consistent with how we assess traditional infrastructure investment in terms of the risk-reward profile and associated target returns on investment. We believe AI infrastructure investment, irrespective of its specific position in the broader AI value chain, should be based on highly contracted assets, strong counterparties, high margin businesses, inflation protection and the ability to secure a return on and of capital over the contractual tenure,” he added.
Commenting on which regions are emerging as strategic hubs for AI infrastructure, the executive noted that “most governments have realized that AI technology is a productivity-enhancing tool in the medium term, and the development of AI infrastructure is a local economy stimulator in the short term.”
“The two countries that were first to recognize this were the US and China. They are therefore a little further ahead of the rest of the world, which is catching up. Europe is emerging as a strong third contender, while the Middle East and select developed markets in Asia-Pacific are making rapid progress too,” the executive said.
