Google makes record $15B AI infrastructure bet in Finland

Google announced Wednesday it will invest at least €13 billion (around $15 billion) in Finland over the next two years, covering data centers, clean energy and local community projects.

The company called it the largest single investment it has ever made in Europe.

The plan builds on Google’s history in the country.

Fifteen years ago, Google converted a former paper mill in the coastal town of Hamina into a data center.

That site has since grown into one of the anchors of Google’s European cloud network, and the new investment will expand it further while adding three entirely new data centers in Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala.

Jobs and local economic impact

Google says the construction phase, running through 2027 and 2028, will support more than 37,000 jobs across Finland and add €3.6 billion (approx. $4.1 billion) a year to the country's GDP.

Roughly 16,000 of those jobs will be in construction itself, according to Google's own figures, generating an estimated €911 million (approx. $1 billion) a year in labor income for that sector alone.

Once the sites are running, Google expects them to support around 7,000 permanent jobs, spanning engineers, technicians, security staff and catering, with average pay about 24% above Finland's national median wage.

The company is also putting €31 million (approx. $35.5 million) into community programs across Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala over the next four years.

That includes AI training for more than 4,400 workers, through partnerships with local colleges, and new training slots for 100 Finnish students aiming for careers in data centers.

Google said €10 million (approx. $11.5 million) of that community fund is earmarked specifically for local research and innovation work.

Energy deals underpin the expansion

A large part of the announcement centers on power, not just compute.

Google has signed a 22-year agreement with Finnish energy company Fortum to support a life extension of the Loviisa nuclear plant, which currently supplies about 10% of Finland’s electricity and employs roughly 580 people.

Google is also adding new onshore wind capacity and has contracted for a 94-megawatt battery system near its Kajaani site, expected to be operational in late 2027, aimed at keeping the grid stable during cold, low-wind periods when demand spikes.

Google is separately working with Finnish grid operator Fingrid and the agency Business Finland to plan future data center sites around grid capacity, an approach it’s positioning as a model for responsible AI infrastructure build-outs elsewhere in Europe

Why Finland, and why now

Finland’s cold climate and largely low-carbon power grid have made it an increasingly popular destination for data center investment, and Google isn’t alone there.

Microsoft and ByteDance have also pursued data center projects in the country in recent years, drawn by similar cooling and energy advantages.

For Google, the timing lines up with the broader AI infrastructure race among the major cloud providers, all of whom are racing to add compute capacity to support AI products like Google’s Gemini.

Ruth Porat, Google’s chief investment officer, said the company was proud to deepen its roots in Finland with its largest single investment in Europe.