atNorth collaborates with Crusoe for green energy-powered computing in Europe

To marry the future of computing with clean energy, atNorth, a Nordic colocation, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence service provider, has teamed up with Crusoe Energy Systems.

atNorth is a Nordic data centre services company that offers sustainable, cost-effective, scalable colocation and high-performance computing services across Iceland, Sweden and Finland. With sustainability at its core, atNorth's data centers run on renewable energy resources and support circular economy principles.

This collaboration will see Crusoe Cloud GPUs collocated in atNorth's ICE02 data centre in Iceland. It is Crusoe's maiden project in Europe, aligning its mission of powering its high-performance computing infrastructure with green energy sources.

Cully Cavness, Co-Founder and President of Crusoe conveyed his excitement about the collaboration, expressing delight in finding a solution for sourcing low-carbon power. He highlighted the significance of the partnership with atNorth, enabling them to align the concentrated energy needs of computing infrastructure directly with clean and renewable geothermal and hydro energy sources in Iceland. 

Cully Cavness said, "I'm thrilled that our quest to source low-carbon power has led us to Iceland. This partnership with atNorth allows us to bring the concentrated energy demand of compute infrastructure directly to the source of clean, renewable geothermal and hydro energy."

E. Magnús Kristinsson, CEO of atNorth's, emphasised the significance of aligning with companies with similar commitments to sustainability. He stressed the importance of collaborating with partners who echo atNorth's approach to environmental responsibility.

E. Magnús Kristinsson remarked, "It is very important to atNorth that we are collaborating with companies that share our approach to sustainability. Crusoe's commitment to maximise their compute while minimising their environmental impact made them a perfect fit."

With over 80MW of power, the ICE02 site stands at a vantage point and benefits from Iceland's clean and sustainable hydro and geothermal energy. Furthermore, the country enjoys access to low-latency networks with redundant connectivity to customer bases in North America and Europe via several undersea fibre-optic cables.

Chris Dolan, Crusoe's Chief Data Centre Officer, underlined the rise in demand for data centres owing to AI and machine learning, expressing optimism about the partnership with atNorth and the potential for future expansion.

"AI and machine learning are driving the demand for data centers to grow at a record rate. We're excited about our initial commitment to atNorth and look forward to potentially expanding capacity even more in the future," said Dolan. 

The announcement follows the acquisition of Gompute, a frontrunner in High-Performance Computing (HPC) and data centre services, by atNorth. Additionally, the company has announced three new site openings in Kouvola, Finland, Helsinki, Finland, and Copenhagen, Denmark.

This year, the company has gained numerous recognitions for its sustainable data centre industry prowess from several awarding bodies. These include the Edie Net Zero Awards, the DCS Awards, the Electrical Review and Data Centre Review Excellence Awards, the Tech Capital Awards, the National Sustainability Awards, and the 2023 Energy Awards.