Data centres power the digital economy, handling everything from Netflix streams to WhatsApp messages and online banking, keeping services fast, reliable, and secure. But as AI drives demand for vastly more computing power, storage, and energy, they must adapt and fast.
I am overheating when I arrive at the Tier IV Portus Data Center in Cloche d’Or. Cooling is at the core of data centre business and I have layered up as if I’m about to enter a walk-in chiller. “You won’t need that,” COO Patrice Roy says, pointing to my scarf and jacket. While cooling is an essential pillar of the facility, I quickly learn that it is focused on the servers. Extending cooling to the whole building would waste enormous amounts of energy, points out Roy.
The Luxembourg Portus Data Center is part of a network of privately-owned Edge facilities, which are smaller, agile, and focus on bringing data close to cities. As with any data centre, power is critical to provide seamless performance. And with AI and machine learning driving higher demand and, subsequently, rack densities, power and cooling are more critical than ever.
The Cloche d’Or site opened as the European Data Hub in 2009, when the district was still largely fields and for many people, AI was the stuff of science fiction. Today the data centre spans 5,500 m² of potential secure underground rooms, serving customers in finance, insurance, health, gaming, and cloud sectors. In 2026, a further tranche of 1,350 m² of white space will be equipped to meet this surging demand from public and private customers.
In one room, behind a glass wall stand rows of blinking racks, metal frames holding multiple servers, networking gear, and storage in vertical stacks. Newer, power-hungry racks can draw up to 100 kW, around 20 times a traditional rack, says Roy.
Since the start, the facility has run on 100% renewable energy. A biofuel generator ensures continuity during supply interruptions, and the site meets ISO 50001 energy management standards. This is good because the servers in a data centre have a huge appetite for power, and not just to run operations. Servers generate heat because of the high electrical power used by CPUs, GPUs and storage drives. If the temperature gets too high, components overheat, causing immediate failure or permanent damage. Heat also increases the rate at which electronic components degrade. Even small temperature increases can shorten the lifespan of CPUs, RAM, hard drives, and SSDs. Thermal protection mechanisms exist but if a CPU or GPU gets too hot, it will slow performance. “GPU clusters can draw several times the power of a traditional rack, driving sustained thermal loads that conventional air-cooling cannot handle,” Roy says.
The secure underground location helps stabilise temperature, but Portus must now invest in advanced cooling, including liquid and immersion systems, to accommodate next-generation hardware. The centre will also use AI-driven operations internally for predictive maintenance and dynamic cooling when the servers need it. And it is investing in edge computing and regional micro-datacentres: small, local datacentres that enable AI to make fast decisions nearby instead of sending data far away to a big central server.
Around 12 km south, LuxConnect manages three data centres, with a fourth hosting the HPC supercomputer MeluXina in Bissen. All are Tier IV certified, serving a broad spectrum of clients. “We operate like a bank where you can rent a safe,” CEO Paul Konsbruck says. AI is driving strong demand for packed server racks and nonstop workloads. “Unlike traditional applications with peaks and idle times, AI models run around the clock.”
LuxConnect says its sites are powered by 100% renewable energy. Solar panels are installed at two Bettembourg sites, while Kiowatt, a trigeneration plant, supplies sustainable energy for cooling in Bissen. Energy recovery projects include channelling residual heat from server rooms to a new neighbourhood in Bettembourg. “These investments allow us to contribute to the circular economy while reducing our footprint,” says Konsbruck. Nevertheless, cooling remains a challenge, and the operator is exploring more advanced technologies.
Another challenge is the weight of the new equipment, requiring LuxConnect to make structural reinforcements to its floors. “We need to anticipate these to safely accommodate loads,” Konsbruck adds.
Datacentre Capacity Demand Forecast To Triple
As AI and ML adoption grows, McKinsey estimates global demand for data centre capacity could nearly triple by 2030, requiring $6.7 trillion in investment. Luxembourg’s plans for AI deployment across the public sector, including real-time energy management, will contribute to this demand.
Both LuxConnect and Portus were built with growth in mind. “The second phase of our DC1.3 facility (in Bettembourg) was built but not immediately equipped,” Konsbruck says. IRIS², the EU’s planned 290-satellite constellation designed to deliver secure communications, expand broadband access to underserved regions, is expected to occupy much of this space. Combined with AI acceleration in industry and among consumers, these segments are prompting LuxConnect to plan further construction projects.
For Portus, changing demands have altered customer relationships. “Longer-term contracts are gaining importance as higher power and cooling commitments become standard, because clients invest heavily in GPU infrastructure,” says Roy. Looking ahead, he anticipates growing demand for on-site renewables and continued challenges in managing thermal loads while limiting impact on global warming.
And the AI-ready datacentre of the future? Roy anticipates they’ll be greener, faster, smarter, and built to meet tough new tech and legal standards.
As AI continues to surge, data centres like Portus and LuxConnect are no longer just warehouses for servers. They are the beating heart of a digital economy that never sleeps.
This article was published in the Silicon Luxembourg magazine.
