Prometheus Phase 1

Status: Commissioned / Go-Live (Jan 2026)   |   Location: Porsön Industrial Area, Luleå

Project Overview

The Meta Prometheus Phase 1 project in Luleå, Sweden, marks a definitive shift in hyperscale architecture, transitioning from traditional cloud storage to AI-centric supercomputing. Officially commissioned in January 2026, this facility is the first in Europe to house Meta’s proprietary "Prometheus" AI clusters, designed specifically for training the next generation of Large Language Models (LLMs) and supporting real-time metaverse rendering.

Strategic Geographic Advantage Luleå has long been Meta’s European flagship due to its proximity to the Arctic Circle. The "Node Pole" region offers a unique "Free Cooling" environment where the ambient outside air is used for thermal management nearly 365 days a year. By launching Prometheus here, Meta leverages the Lule River’s massive hydroelectric capacity, ensuring that the immense power draw required by NVIDIA H200 and Blackwell GPU clusters is met with 100% carbon-free energy. This is critical as the Phase 1 IT load of 120 MW is significantly denser than previous iterations of the Luleå campus.

Technical Innovation & AI Readiness Unlike standard data centers, Prometheus is built with High-Density Rack (HDR) configurations. While traditional racks average 10–15 kW, the Prometheus racks are engineered for 80 kW to 100 kW per cabinet. To manage this, Meta has implemented a hybrid cooling strategy: utilizing the natural Arctic air for the building envelope while employing Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling for the GPU processors. This allows the facility to maintain a world-class Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.06, even under peak AI training loads.

Economic & Infrastructure Impact The $1.2 billion investment in Phase 1 has revitalized the Norrbotten regional economy. During the height of construction in 2025, the project supported over 2,000 localized jobs. Now operational, the site employs a specialized workforce of 150 permanent technicians and AI infrastructure engineers. Meta has also partnered with Luleå Energi to explore district heat recovery, where the waste heat generated by the AI chips is captured and pumped into the local municipal heating system, potentially warming up to 5,000 local homes during the harsh Swedish winters.

Connectivity & The Global Fabric Network-wise, Prometheus is integrated into Meta’s global terrestrial and subsea fiber fabric. It sits at a crossroads of the AEC-2 (Havfrue) cable system and Baltic sea routes, providing sub-20ms latency to major European hubs like London, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam. This connectivity is essential for the "Inference" part of the AI lifecycle, where models trained in Luleå are deployed to serve users across the EMEA region instantly.

Conclusion As of January 2026, Meta Prometheus stands as a blueprint for the "AI Factory" of the future. It successfully balances the extreme power requirements of modern silicon with a radical commitment to environmental sustainability, positioning Luleå as the premier destination for high-performance computing in the Northern Hemisphere.

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