US tech company Google on Wednesday announced that it would be investing €13 billion ($15.1 billion) in AI infrastructure in Finland as well as penning a massive deal to buy nuclear power in the Nordic country over the next two decades.
This year, Google parent company Alphabet increased global investment to around $200 billion as it rushes to catch up in the AI race. Wednesday's announced deal is Google's biggest single investment in the EU to date.
Since repurposing a former paper mill in the coastal city of Hamina in 2009 and transforming it into a data center, Google has steadily increased its presence in the country.
The northern location offers two advantages, cold Arctic temperatures mean it needs less energy to cool energy hungry servers and the fact that Finland only has 6 million residents would seem to provide relief from the growing resistance that such projects are running up against in the US and elsewhere.
Google is not alone in looking to chilly Finland with its cheap nuclear, wind and hydroelectric energy supply to expand its business — Microsoft and TikTok parent ByteDance have also set up shop — with dozens of data centers being built in the country over the past few years.
