Ukraine Needs More Ammunition, But a TikTok Data Center Is Standing in the Way

pcmag.com:

One of Europe's largest ammunition manufacturers is unable to meet the demand caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and there's a unlikely culprit: TikTok.

As the Financial Times(Opens in a new window) reports, ammunition manufacturer Nammo wants to expand its Raufoss plant(Opens in a new window) in central Norway, 75 miles north of Oslo, but has been told there isn't enough electricity to support the expansion. There's actually plenty of surplus electricity, but it's been promised to TikTok, which is building three data centers nearby and potentially two more by 2025.

Morten Brandtzæg, Nammo chief executive said, "We are concerned because we see our future growth is challenged by the storage of cat videos."

Demand for ammunition is extremely high due in no small part to the war in Ukraine. Artillery round demand is 15 times higher than normal and Ukraine is firing 6,000 rounds every day. According to Nammo, Ukrainian troops want to fire 65,000 rounds a day, but such a high supply isn't available, nor is the option to ramp up production any further to meet it without expansion.

Brandtzæg says over $2 billion needs to be invested in new ammunition factories to meet such demand, but that can't happen because data centers are using up all the available energy.

Local energy supplier Elvia confirmed Nammo will need to wait for its transmission network "to be strengthened" before a factory expansion could be supported. The supplier also confirmed that spare capacity was promised to TikTok because it works on a first-come, first-served basis.

There is potentially some good news for Brandtzæg, though. Per-Gunnar Sveen, head of the committee for business development at the county council of Innlandet (where Nammo is based),