Big data is getting bigger, AI is getting smarter, and the demand for computing power is exploding. So where will the U.S. house the massive data centers AI companies need to stay ahead in the race for artificial general intelligence?
The White House has mentioned interest in acquiring Greenland from Denmark as of late, but not much on the rationale behind it. But what if AI is the reason?
As unconventional as it sounds, acquiring Greenland could give the U.S. a powerhouse location to build the next generation of AI infrastructure. Sound crazy? Let’s make the case.
Cool Climate, Hot Tech
Data centers generate a staggering amount of heat, and keeping them cool isn’t cheap. Traditional cooling methods eat up nearly 40% of a data center’s energy budget. But Greenland? It’s naturally frigid year-round, which means AI companies could replace those enormous HVAC systems with fresh, and more importantly free arctic air. That’s a game-changer.
Tech giants like Google and Microsoft are already experimenting with underwater and Nordic-region data centers for this exact reason. Greenland, with its subzero climate, could be the ultimate location for cold-weather server farms.
Greenland’s Renewable Energy Potential
Even with DeepSeek showing that there are creative ways to reduce the computational demands of large language models, AI is and will continue to be an energy hog. Training models like ChatGPT require massive amounts of power, and that electricity has to come from somewhere. Greenland has several untapped renewable energy sources.
- Hydropower – Melting glacial water can be harnessed to generate clean, renewable electricity.
- Wind Energy – Greenland has strong and consistent coastal winds, making it a prime location for wind farms.
- Tidal Energy – Given its Arctic geography, Greenland could pioneer tidal power technology in the coming decades.
Rather than overloading the U.S. energy grid, moving AI operations to Greenland would give tech companies the ability to leverage low-cost, sustainable energy, which also aligns with the growing push for carbon neutrality.
Strategic Location: The Perfect Hub for AI Companies
Greenland sits in a sweet spot between North America and Europe, making it an ideal location for global data traffic. Transatlantic cables could pass through Greenland, reducing data travel distances and cutting latency between U.S. and European AI customers.
From a national security standpoint, Greenland also offers a geopolitical advantage. As Arctic trade routes open, controlling Greenland’s infrastructure would provide the U.S. with a key foothold in this emerging economic zone. AI isn’t just about making chatbots smarter—it’s a crucial component of defense, intelligence, and economic strategy.
Room to Expand, No NIMBY Complaints
One of the biggest challenges to building large-scale data centers in the U.S., outside of power requirements, is space and community resistance. Local residents often push back against massive data centers, citing noise, power consumption, and land use concerns.
Greenland? It has a population of just 56,000 spread across an area three times the size of Texas. There’s vast open space for AI companies to build massive AI megacenters without disturbing neighborhoods. Plus, investing in Greenland’s economy could create jobs and infrastructure improvements for its local population.
AI Is the Future—And We Need More Power
The AI arms race is accelerating, and computing infrastructure is the battleground. China is rapidly expanding its AI capabilities, and Europe is investing heavily in high-performance computing. The U.S. needs an edge.
Right now, Greenland is a Danish territory with limited infrastructure. But with investment, it could become the Silicon Valley of AI data centers—a cold, renewable-energy-powered engine driving the next wave of technological advancement. Whether through outright acquisition (as the U.S. has been floating as of late) or strategic partnership, leveraging Greenland for AI infrastructure would be a bold but forward-thinking move.
Is it unconventional? Absolutely. But so was the Louisiana Purchase—and that turned out pretty well.
