Alphabet's Google will invest at least €13 billion ($15.1 billion) in artificial intelligence infrastructure in Finland over the next two years. This represents the company's single largest investment in Europe, as announced on Wednesday. The investment will be undertaken in 2027 and 2028 and aims to capture growing computing demand, with Alphabet increasing its global investment to between $195 billion and $205 billion this year.
The investment will cover data centers, electricity grid improvements, and clean energy and battery projects. These initiatives are designed to power Google services like Gemini, Search, Maps, and YouTube. Finland was chosen due to its cold climate, which reduces cooling costs for data centers, and its abundance of low-carbon electricity, aligning with companies' efforts to lower energy costs and meet climate goals.
According to Google, the project is expected to contribute approximately $3.6 billion to Finland's gross domestic product during the construction phase. Once operational, it is projected to support about 7,000 jobs annually. Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo lauded the decision as "a clear testament to our strengths," emphasizing that the new digital infrastructure will serve as building blocks for Finnish and broader European digital readiness, innovation, and AI development.
Google's plan includes expanding its digital infrastructure in Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos, and Vaala. The company highlighted a blueprint for responsible energy growth, including smart siting of data centers to support the Finnish grid, expanding clean energy supply, and launching community programs. This involves a life extension power purchase agreement (PPA) for the Loviisa nuclear power plant with Fortum, new contracts for 629 MW of onshore wind energy, and a 94 MW battery system in Kajaani to help balance the grid. Google's prior clean energy PPAs in Finland have already added more energy to the grid than the company has consumed.
