Google is committing at least 13 billion euros to data centers and supporting infrastructure in Finland during 2027 and 2028. It is the company’s largest single investment in Europe, spread across Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala, and paired with nuclear, wind and battery deals.
Google bought a former paper mill in Hamina, a town in the south of Finland, in 2009. It was turned into a data center and became the foundation for one of Google Cloud’s 43 regions. The company’s ambitions now reach north, with extra locations chosen together with the local grid operator and government agency Business Finland. These new locations will require fewer investments in the grid and lower the overall system costs, according to Google.
Power deals do the heavy lifting
The energy package is long-term, certainly consisting of a longer lifespan than most data centers before a full renovation. Google has signed a 22-year power purchase agreement with Fortum to underwrite the life extension of the Loviisa nuclear plant, which supplies 10 percent of Finland’s electricity and would otherwise have closed after 2030. A memorandum of understanding covers possible new reactors at the same site.
Add two onshore wind PPAs with Valorem and Suomen Hyötytuuli, bringing Google’s new-to-grid wind capacity in Finland to 629 MW, plus a contracted 94 MW battery system near Kajaani due online in late 2027.
This all amounts to one of the most meaningful hyperscale locations in Europe, a continent that so far has not participated in the full-scale AI buildout that covers the United States in particular. While Europe is ill-equipped to handle a blanket of hyperscale locations in quite the same way as the US owing to space constraints, limits on grids and dense urban areas, Finland appears to have found itself in a niche here.
Another step in a European buildout
Google has been busy elsewhere too, irrespective of the limitations. It added €5 billion for its Belgian data center, put an extra €1 billion into Finnish capacity back in 2024 already, and opened a new Dutch site back in November. Google projects an average annual GDP contribution of 3.6 billion euros during construction and more than 37,000 supported jobs, falling to 7,000 once the facilities run. A further 31 million euros goes to community programmes in the four municipalities, 10 million euros of it earmarked for research and innovation.
Then again, some skepticism is in order for the job numbers in particular. A recent research found that just 25 percent of projected jobs actually materialize in UK data centers, with no real reason to assume that this is somehow an outlier. The main benefit will likely amount to both Google itself and those that use its capacity, which includes both public and private organizations.