And Ireland has done it again! Another first-place achievement!
When it comes to AI data centres relative to the size of the country, Ireland is punching well above its weight.
A small island, a growing army of AI data centres, and politicians who never seem to run out of brilliant ideas for everyone else’s electricity.
Just asking for a friend: Is that why Ireland has the most expensive electricity in Europe? Because ordinary people have to help pay the bills for these poor, struggling, multibillion-dollar corporations — Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Pure Data Centre Group?
Number of AI Data Centres by Country
| Country | Number of AI Data Centres |
|---|---|
| 🇫🇷 France | 11 |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | 11 |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 9 |
| 🇮🇪 Ireland | 5 |
| 🇫🇮 Finland | 5 |
| 🇳🇴 Norway | 5 |
| 🇪🇸 Spain | 5 |
| 🇮🇹 Italy | 4 |
| 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 4 |
| 🇸🇪 Sweden | 4 |
| Other 14 Countries | 27 |
| Total | 90 |
How Many AI Data Centres Are There in Europe?
According to the specialised AI Data Center Index database, the following figures are currently recorded:
- 90 AI data centres across Europe
- 24 countries
- 74 operators
- 59 operational facilities, according to the database’s overall figures
(And thank God, Ireland has managed to get all five of its AI data centres up and running. What an achievement!) - The remaining facilities are under construction, in the planning stages, or have been announced.
These figures do not represent the official total number of AI data centres in Europe, but rather the facilities tracked by this particular database. The figures also include data centres that combine AI infrastructure with other cloud computing services.
Source: https://aidatacenterindex.com/continents/europe/
Ireland’s Data Centre Boom: A Small Island with an Enormous Appetite for Electricity
Ireland has become one of Europe’s major data centre hubs, hosting extensive cloud and digital infrastructure operated by some of the world’s largest technology companies.
The Greater Dublin Area, extending into counties such as Meath and Kildare, is home to a major concentration of data centres. Companies including Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Meta have established substantial operations in Ireland, attracted by its EU membership, corporate tax environment, skilled workforce, international connectivity, and relatively cool climate.
But this rapid expansion comes at a considerable cost in electricity demand.
According to Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO), data centres consumed 23% of the country’s total metered electricity in 2025, compared with just 5% in 2015.
That represents an increase from 1,240 GWh in 2015 to 7,663 GWh in 2025 — more than six times as much electricity in just one decade.
To put this into perspective, all Irish households combined accounted for approximately 28% of the country’s metered electricity consumption in 2025.
In other words, Ireland’s data centres now consume almost as much electricity as every household in the country combined.
And while technology companies continue expanding their infrastructure, Ireland faces growing challenges involving electricity generation, grid capacity, renewable energy development, and the costs of supporting increasing demand.
Ireland has become a major European centre for digital infrastructure. But an important question remains:
Who ultimately bears the cost of powering this enormous industry?
We hope to answer this question once we receive responses to our enquiries from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) and other relevant authorities regarding electricity pricing, grid costs, and how these expenses are distributed between data centre operators and ordinary Irish consumers.