Google plans €13 billion AI infrastructure investment in Finland

On Tuesday, Google revealed plans to invest a minimum of €13 billion in Finnish digital infrastructure over the coming two years, representing its biggest single investment ever in Europe.

Scheduled for 2027–2028, the funding will cover data centers and associated infrastructure in Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos, and Vaala.

This commitment extends Google's long-standing Finnish footprint, which dates back to 2009 when it bought a former paper mill in Hamina and transformed it into a data center. Between 2023 and 2025, the Hamina operations supported more than 600 Finnish suppliers working on construction, operations, and network infrastructure – including DNA, Elisa, and Nokia.

During the initial 2027–2028 construction phase, the project is forecast to add an average of €3.6 billion each year to Finland's GDP and sustain over 37,000 jobs across the country. Of those, approximately 16,000 jobs are expected to be in construction, producing an estimated €911 million in average annual sector labor income. Once fully operational, the facilities should support 7,000 jobs per year, with average wages running 24% above Finland's median pay.

The new infrastructure will underpin Google services such as Gemini, Search, Maps, and YouTube. The Hamina facility is part of Google's worldwide network of 43 cloud regions, allowing Finnish organizations – Nokia, Elisa, and the City of Hamina among them – to run services and develop AI-driven applications.

To back the expansion, Google unveiled a series of energy partnerships. It signed a 22-year power purchase agreement with Finnish utility Fortum aimed at extending the life of the Loviisa nuclear power plant, which now supplies 10% of Finland's electricity and employs about 580 people. Without this lifetime-extension investment program, the plant would be unable to continue running past 2030.

Google also signed an MOU with Fortum to investigate collaboration on added flexibility and fresh power generation. In the wind segment, the company entered into onshore wind PPAs with Valorem and Suomen Hyötytuuli, lifting the total amount of new-to-the-grid onshore wind capacity it supports to 629 megawatts.

A 94 MW battery system near Google's Kajaani site will be tied into Finland's grid, with commissioning slated for late 2027. In parallel, Google partnered with Fingrid and Business Finland to identify suitable locations for infrastructure and grid-friendly interconnections.

Over four years, Google will allocate €31 million across Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos, and Vaala to community efforts centered on education and economic development, reserving €10 million for research and innovation. The company will also back municipal energy projects that deliver solar panels and heat pumps to low-income households and carry out energy-efficiency upgrades on public buildings.

Google.org's AI Opportunity Fund will provide AI skills training to more than 4,400 workers. Meanwhile, a workforce development initiative launched with EKAMI aims to train as many as 100 Finnish students over a one-year period for careers in data centers.

Google has also committed to restoring the ecological condition of former forestry land next to its data center sites, emphasizing native forest regeneration and the conservation of peatlands and wetlands.

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