TikTok Data Center Under Fire From Ammo Maker For Sucking Up Electricity: 'Our Future Growth Challenged By Storage Of Cat Videos'

Europe’s largest ammunition manufacturer blasted TikTok data center for using all the electricity in the region and preventing the planned expansion of its factory.

What Happened: Nammo — an ammo manufacturer co-owned by the Norwegian government and a Finnish state-controlled defense company — said it could not meet the increasing demand for its artillery rounds because a local data center, whose primary customer is TikTok, was using all the electricity.

“We are concerned because we see our future growth is challenged by the storage of cat videos,” Morten Brandtzæg, Nammo’s chief executive, told the Financial Times.

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The demand for artillery shells has surged to 15 times higher than usual amid Putin's ongoing war in Ukraine, Brandtzæg said. He added that Ukraine wants to increase the daily number of rounds it uses from 6,000 to 65,000 as it fights Moscow.

Elvia, the local energy company, told the publication that the network had no spare capacity as it works on a first-come, first-served basis. It had promised it to the data center first that serves TikTok.

Brandtzæg also urged the governments to prioritize electricity for certain industries. “Critical industry must have access to energy,” he said, adding that “I don’t think it’s a one-off, I think it’s a trend for the future.”

Meanwhile, the U.N. nuclear watchdog head described the situation at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in south-eastern Ukraine as "very dangerous" and unstable. He said his attempt to broker a deal to protect the plant was still alive. 

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