Digital Infrastructure as Policy Arena: Discursive and Institutional Dynamics in Norwegian Data Center Governance

Digital infrastructure has become an increasingly critical domain for public sector governance and regulation. While this development has evolved gradually, the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) as a disruptive technology has fundamentally transformed the underlying conditions. This is particularly true for data centers as essential infrastructure, enabling scalable solutions for AI, big data, and digital services. This paper uses national data center policy as an empirical case to explore how digital infrastructure as a rather new policy topic interact with and challenge governance systems. Data centers are key nodes in the digital ecosystem. Their location, ownership, and regulatory frameworks determine who controls and accesses data. Their strategic significance is amplified by entanglement in power relations marked by global economic and geopolitical interests, as many are owned by multinational technology firms. At the same time, data centers constitute arenas for economic development. Governance must address normative tensions embedded in data center development related to cybersecurity, energy consumption, privacy, and emergency preparedness. Often situated in small municipalities yet embedded in transnational networks, they exemplify tensions between local governance and global technological structures. So far, there are surprisingly few policy studies on data centers. Using Norway as a site, we will therefore explore how the Norwegian government, municipalities, civil society, industrial actors, and private technology companies shape datacenter policy. As one of the world’s most digitally advanced nations, Norway provides a compelling case for examining data center policy because its public sector increasingly depends on robust digital infrastructure. Norway has also become an attractive destination for data center investments due to renewable energy availability, a cool climate that reduces cooling costs, and relatively low electricity prices. Our theoretical framework combines discursive and institutional perspectives addressing the following questions: Which discourses dominate policy development, and how do different actors construct and negotiate their positions within these discursive formations? How can the trajectory of policy development be understood through the anchoring of these discourses within different institutional logics in the national regulatory regime? Methodologically, the study is carried out by qualitative textual analysis of documents related to national political processes and a limited number of semi-structured interviews. Sources include parliamentary and governmental documents, materials from selected interest organizations, and media coverage.