Hype hyperscale DC

On a 10-hectare site owned by Valimmo Reim, Evroc has begun building a next-generation hyperscale data centre in the Actipôle business district of Mougins. What exactly is that? It’s a data centre that will eventually be powered by 96 megawatts and capable of hosting up to 50,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), making it one of the largest in Europe.

The project is based on an existing data centre, originally built on the site in the late 2010s but never fully brought into operation. Evroc has begun transforming the original building to significantly improve its energy efficiency and is adding new infrastructure to bring the facility up to full capacity and deliver high-performance computing.

For Robert Eriksson, Director of Engineering at Evroc and Head of the Sophia Antipolis development hub: “Our hyperscale data centre in Mougins will be the ideal tool for training large AI models and deploying next-generation AI-based applications.” The construction of this facility could attract up to 4 billion euros in investment once fully operational and will be completed in several phases. The transformation of the existing building is actively underway, with Evroc aiming for the first phase to be operational in 2026.

The challenge of energy management

While hyperscale data centres consume significant amounts of energy, they can process vast volumes of data and are far more efficient than using many smaller data centres. The Mougins data centre also aims to stand out for its sustainability: firstly, it involves repurposing an existing building, which reduces its environmental footprint compared with starting from scratch; secondly, its internal infrastructure is designed to optimise performance and greatly reduce energy consumption.

Robert Eriksson explains how Evroc plans to drastically cut energy use for cloud data hosting and computing in Mougins: “We are adopting innovative approaches to cooling, resource allocation and heat reuse. We use artificial intelligence to forecast workloads and adjust resource allocation accordingly. We can also determine the power needed to meet demand, balance thermal loads automatically and optimise cooling in real time.”

Additionally, Evroc uses advanced cooling systems to minimise the energy consumption related to managing server temperatures. One of the key technologies they employ is liquid cooling, which is far more efficient than traditional air-based methods. Evroc is also collaborating with local authorities to find ways to reuse the heat generated by its servers. For example, the town of Mougins is exploring a project to capture the heat from the data centre to warm two nearby schools. The data centre will also benefit from low-carbon energy, a crucial factor when it comes to energy efficiency. Electricity produced in France is largely sourced from non-fossil fuels.

To the rescue of European sovereignty...

Although recently established, the Swedish company has big ambitions and is seeking to position itself as a European leader in cloud computing with global influence in a market dominated 80% by American players. To achieve its goals and help Europe catch up, Evroc plans to build ten new-generation hyperscale data centres by 2030, along with cloud and AI services offering performance and security to innovative European companies. The data is stored in the European Union, in compliance with European privacy legislation, and is, in principle, protected from any illegal interference by foreign governments.

With investments estimated at nearly €10 billion, Evroc has set itself the goal of completing this project in stages and plans to finance it primarily through borrowing (the company has also already raised several rounds of funding). It could also benefit from public funding, particularly from the European Union, which is currently investing heavily in projects aimed at strengthening its technological sovereignty. In France, Evroc was highlighted at the last artificial intelligence summit held in Paris in February, with three major projects to set up data centres in France. The first will be located in the Mougins part of the technology park.

Why Sophia Antipolis? Mattias Åström, CEO and founder of Evroc, is familiar with the technology park, having worked there on advanced software architectures 25 years ago. The choice was also dictated by the availability of talent in the area, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence, which is the main focus of research at Evroc's Sophia Antipolis office. Thus, just a few months after its creation, Evroc chose to open an office in Sophia Antipolis to serve as its strategic hub for expansion in France and Europe. A return to its roots, in a way. And yet another proof that all roads lead to Sophia Antipolis.

Did you know... ?

Founded in Sweden in 2022, Evroc positions itself as a green European alternative and specialises in dematerialised IT infrastructure for remote data storage, access and processing. It is headquartered in Stockholm and has offices in London and Sophia Antipolis for its R&D. Its ambition is to build large-scale data centres, facilities housing hundreds of IT servers, some for data storage and others for computing operations. These infrastructures are now essential for the use of modern cloud services. In its roadmap, the Mougins site is one of eight other data centres that the company has announced it plans to build in Europe, as an alternative to non-European competitors.