The tech giant will build data centres and AI infrastructure across three locations, but questions remain about job creation promises and environmental impact.Ronan Browne9:28Earlier this week, search engine giant Google unveiled its plans to invest some 13 billion euros in Finland over the next two years.The money will be used to build data centres as well as supporting infrastructure in three different locations around the Oulu and Kajaani regions, and the outlay represents Google's largest single investment in Europe to date.Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) lauded the move, telling a press conference on Wednesday that the expansion of Google's operations in Finland will create thousands of jobs and "generate significant tax revenues for municipalities and central government".According to Google's own figures, the construction phase alone will "contribute an annual average of 3.6 billion euros to Finland's GDP and support more than 37,000 jobs nationwide".Sakari Lähdemäki, a senior researcher at economic research think tank Etla, described Google's projected figures as "optimistic" in an interview with Yle. He also questioned the long-term benefit for Finland's jobs market."With data centres, the fear has been that they do employ people during the construction phase, but after that they are quite automated, and thus the employment effect later remains smaller," Lähdemäki noted.Aside from the economic effects, data centres in general have become a controversial topic in many parts of the world, as critics say they drain local resources and exacerbate the climate crisis.