One of Europe's largest manufacturers of ammunition for firearms is having trouble expanding its factory capacity due to the ongoing energy crisis.
According to Norway-based Nammo, which is co-owned by both the Norwegian government and a Finnish state-controlled defense company, blames TikTok for the roadblock. The social media app, the company claims, is hogging all the electricity by creating a new data cancer to host pointless data like "storage of cat videos."
There is reportedly no more energy available for Nammo to expand, which is the fault of globalist politicians in the European Union (EU) and elsewhere who cut the continent off from abundant and affordable energy from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
"We are concerned because we see our future growth is challenged by the storage of cat videos," stated Morten Brandtzæg, Nammo's chief executive.
(Related: Last fall, Goldman Sachs warned that the energy crisis in Europe is causing the continent to be de-industrialized.)
Is Chinese-owned TikTok deliberately expanding data centers near European defense assets to deprive them of scarce energy resources?
Ever since the war broke out in Ukraine, demand for ammunition across Europe has surged. Right now, about 6,000 rounds per day, the equivalent of the entire annual order from a small European country, are being produced, but Nammo would like to see that number increase to 65,000 rounds per day to meet demand.
This is impossible, though, because TikTok's new data center is taking preference and hogging all the available energy. The kiddos and their smartphone addictions apparently take preference over national defense.
Brandtzæg says demand for artillery rounds is 15 times higher than normal right now. The European ammunition industry needs to invest €2bn in new factories alone just to keep up with demand from Ukraine, let alone other European countries.
"We see an extraordinary demand for our products which we have never seen before in our history," Brandtzæg said about the issue.
TikTok is building not just the new data center in question but also two others this year. The company also has the option to build two more data centers by 2025 in Hamar, located 25 kilometers to the east of Raufoss, said Green Mountain, TikTok's Norwegian data center provider.
When asked if he thinks it is a coincidence that a Chinese-owned company is stopping a defense company's expansion, Brandtzæg responded that he "will not rule out that it's not by pure coincidence that this activity is close to a defense company."
"I can't rule it out," he added.
Local energy provider Elvia confirmed to the media that the electricity network in Norway has no spare capacity after promising TikTok that it had preference for its data centers.
"If Nammo orders capacity, depending on how much it needs, it will take time before there is available capacity as the transmission network needs to be strengthened," Elvia said.
Once-plentiful and inexpensive electricity resources made Norway and other Nordic countries a destination for data centers like those now being built by TikTok. Their colder climate also helped to keep cooling costs down.
All of that has changed since Russia invaded Ukraine, though. Now, there is not enough electricity to go around, and these nations' defense operations are suffering as a result.
"It will be a big fight," said one industrialist from northern Sweden about the conflict between public and private energy needs. "Do we want green steel or data centers for Facebook?
"For Europe, this is a major concern for industry: critical industry must have access to energy," added Brandtzæg. "I don't think it's a one-off. I think it's a trend for the future."
The latest news about the European energy crisis can be found at Collapse.news.
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