European operator NorthC is to build a new data center in Geneva, Switzerland.

The company this week announced plans to break ground on a new facility at the Hive technology park outside the city in Q1 2026.

The modular facility will offer 4.5MW of IT capacity across 5,400 sqm (58,125 sq ft), delivered in increments of 1.5MW. Construction is expected to be completed by Q2 2028.

NorthC said the new facility will use a waterless cooling system, support direct-to-chip liquid cooling, and utilize HVO instead of diesel for its backup generators. It will make its waste heat available for local heating networks.

Alexandra Schless, CEO of NorthC Group: “Geneva is an important commercial and economic hub in Switzerland, alongside the Basel and Zurich regions. Demand for digital services – and consequently for data center capacity – is growing rapidly. This makes Geneva a logical location for NorthC to build a new data center. The proximity to the renowned scientific research center CERN also offers new opportunities for collaboration in scientific research and innovation, including AI.”

NorthC was formed in 2019 from the merger of Dutch data center firms TDCG and NLDC, originally a subsidiary of Dutch telecoms company KPN. Antin Infrastructure Partners acquired the company in December 2025.

Recent year have seen NorthC expanding to other European countries, buying Netrics in Switzerland and the IP Exchange in Germany. It recently acquired a number of facilities across the Netherlands and Germany from Colt Technology Services.

The company currently has more than a dozen data centers across the Netherlands, eight in Germany, and four in Switzerland, with more in development in all three markets.

When it acquired Netrics in 2022 and expanded into Switzerland, NorthC took over three data centers – two in Münchenstein near Basel and one in Biel – with a total floor space of 13,000 sqm (140,000 sq ft), more than 7.5MW of capacity. The company then acquired a 1.8MW facility outside Zurich a year later from IT services firm Kyndryl in a sale-leaseback deal.

NorthC announced plans for a new facility in Basel in September. The first phase of the new facility, set to launch in mid-2027, will offer 5.5MW across 2,500 sqm (26,910 sq ft).

Other operators around Geneva include nLighten, Stack, Equinix, and Swisscom.