HELSINKI: Google has announced plans to invest around €13 billion ($15.1 billion) in artificial-intelligence and data-centre infrastructure in Finland over the next two years, its largest investment in Europe to date.
The programme includes expansion of data centres, electricity-grid infrastructure, battery storage and clean-energy projects. Google already operates a major data-centre complex in Hamina, on Finland’s southern coast.
Alongside the investment, Google has signed its first nuclear-energy agreement outside the United States. Under a 22-year contract with Finnish utility Fortum, Google will purchase as much as half of the electricity produced by one of Finland’s nuclear plants to supply its growing computing requirements.
The companies will also explore additional nuclear and renewable-energy projects. Finland’s government estimates the investment could add about $3.6 billion to economic output during the main construction phase in 2027–28, while Google says the completed infrastructure should support thousands of jobs.