The Greenland data center project an ex-Trump official has a stake in
A former official of US President Donald Trump’s first administration is planning a multibillion-dollar data center project in a remote corner of Greenland; while hyperscalers are trying to build capacity around the world to keep up with the rollout of AI.
The data center aims to be operational at 300 megawatts (MW) by mid-2027; further expansion is expected to reach 1.5 gigawatts (GW) by the end of 2028.
While this is several times the power capacity of any currently active data center in the world, there are plans to build more than 1GW of facilities globally over the next two years as the race to develop AI infrastructure continues to gather pace.
The Greenland data center project will cost billions of dollars to complete and has binding commitments with investors to fund half of the first development phase and half of the final phase, GreenMet CEO Drew Horn, a senior aide to Trump’s first-term vice president Mike Pence and who provided strategic support for the project, told CNBC.
He added that the startup plans to build a structure with an airport in Kangerlussuaq, a small settlement at the tip of a deep fjord on the southwestern coast of the Arctic island.
Technical partners have been deployed to assist with physical construction, but the project has not yet received land or approval from local authorities, Horn said. He declined to share the names of other companies involved in the initiative because the information has not yet been made public.
Commercial opportunities in Greenland have come to the fore in recent weeks, with the Arctic island becoming the center of a geopolitical storm after US President Donald Trump doubled down on talk of purchasing it.
Critical mineral mining and freshwater reserves have been touted as potential potential, but skeptics point to the logistical difficulties of exploiting them due to Greenland’s limited infrastructure.
Billion dollar data center
Work on plans for the Greenland data center project began a year ago, and Horn told CNBC it has found technical partners to help with construction, operations and energy supply.
Horn, who was a senior adviser to both the energy and intelligence departments toward the end of Trump’s first term, said committed financing in the form of debt and equity is contingent on the project meeting key milestones, including obtaining permits from local government.
Other former senior Trump employees also have shares in GreenMet, and its website says: assists companies with government and private financing and strategic partnerships.
George Sorial, who served as vice president and chief compliance counsel at the Trump Organization until 2019, and Keith Schiller, Trump’s longtime bodyguard and director of Oval Office operations during the U.S. president’s first term, helped launch the company in 2021 and remain shareholders.
“We are not actively involved with GreenMet or Greenland,” Sorial told CNBC. “We are passive minority shareholders of GreenMet and have no management role in the company.” Schiller had not responded to CNBC’s request for comment as this story went to press.
GreenMet’s CEO is developing relationships with officials in the Greenlandic and Danish governments to advance the project. Horn said he met with Danish Ambassador to the United States Jesper Møller Sørensen on Wednesday as part of an “ongoing dialogue” to discuss the data center. CNBC has contacted the Danish embassy in the United States for comment.
While officials from all parties support the project, “the problem is not on the private side, but at the diplomatic level,” Horn said, pointing to geopolitical tensions surrounding the U.S. push to buy Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Tensions have eased since Trump backed off plans to impose tariffs on several European countries over the issue, but questions remain as negotiations continue over US military and economic involvement in Greenland.
“Our entirely private effort will only be successful if we receive support from affected parties and countries,” Horn said.
to secure power
“Larger corporate entities” will take the lead on building and developing the data center, but GreenMet will remain involved as a consultant, as the project aims to secure government investment from countries including the United States, Greenland, Denmark and other NATO nations, Horn told CNBC.
“We spent about a year bringing everything together, from the power to the technology components. [and] We have a Greenlandic partner on the ground,” Horn said. “We are currently awaiting approval from Greenland.”
A big challenge for projects of this scale in Greenland is access to power. Horn said that in the first phase of the project, where a power capacity of 300 MW is targeted, it is planned to use special barges carrying Liquefied Natural Gas to the fjord.
The initiative plans to build a hydroelectric facility to power the second phase, in which the data center will reach 1.5 GW capacity, with 70% of the island’s energy coming from such facilities. Greenland government permits and approvals for both the barges and the facility are still pending. Greenland’s Ministry of Commerce has been approached for comment.
Kangerlussuaq Fjord. Large iceberg in natural fjord surrounded by snow-capped mountains, Southeast coast, Greenland.
VW Pictures | Universal Images Group | Getty Images
Horn argues that if local officials give the green light to the large hydroelectric facility, energy prices will make the project commercially viable in the long term.
Analysts told CNBC that building data centers in a low-temperature environment has some significant advantages.
“The biggest value lies in the resource profile, particularly hydropower for electricity generation and the ‘free cooling’ proposition given the lower ambient temperature,” Noah Ramos, strategist at investment research firm Alpine Macro, told CNBC.
However, the project has obstacles to overcome. “Construction in the Arctic is capital intensive; construction seasons are short and heat from servers can even melt the ground the building is on… special engineering is required,” Ramos said.
Nvidia It also introduces new generation chips that require less cooling. “It’s early days, but if next-generation chips are more efficient in this regard, the need for expensive data center deployments in places like Greenland could be eliminated,” Michael Field, chief equity strategist at Morningstar, told CNBC.
