People gather at the statue of H. C. Andersen during a ceremony to commemorate the 200th birthday of the fairy tale master in Odense, hometown of Andersen, in Denmark, April 2, 2005. (Xinhua Photo/Wu Xiaoling)

COPENHAGEN, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Social media giant Facebook announced on Thursday that it would build a new data center in Odense, Denmark's third largest city in Funen island.

Facebook's director of data Niall McEntegart said at a press conference in Odense that the new centre, which is Facebook's third outside the United States, would be one of the most advanced and energy-efficient data centers in the world, adding that it would be powered completely by clean and renewable energy.

McEntegart told local news site Fyens.dk that the building of the new center would cost "hundreds of millions of dollars".

"I am very happy that Denmark has managed to attract yet another big foreign direct investment," Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said.

"Although only 1 percent of all companies in Denmark are foreign, they are responsible for 20 percent of all Danish jobs," he added.

According to McEntegart, the 55,000-square-meter Odense facility would help the tech company handle "the richer content" of live videos and 360-degree photos.

The center would provide 150 jobs when operational, McEntegart said.

It is not the first time that global business decided to set up data center in Denmark. In 2015, U.S. tech giant Apple announced it would open a data centre in the northern Danish city of Viborg.