Google spends $1 billion on a Finnish data center to promote the development of AI

Because Finland has easy access to renewable energy, Alphabet Inc.’s Google plans to expand extend its primary data center there for a cost of €1 billion ($1.1 billion).

This year and next, the expansion will add 500 additional employees, a spokeswoman said by email on Monday. What effect the investment will have on the site’s data capacity was not disclosed by Google.

Situated on the southern coast of the country, Hamina is home to the facility. The area has a plentiful supply of renewable energy, which is essential to the company’s goal of using green energy for all offices and data centers by the end of this decade.

Along with spearheading a project with the local utility, the tech giant is also putting extra heat into the pipes that the neighborhood uses to heat its houses. This system, known as district heating, is widespread across northern Europe. Ben Townsend, global head of infrastructure planning and sustainability at Google, stated in an interview that if it is effective, it may serve as a roadmap for future expenditures.

In the Nordic area, Google is not the first tech company to provide its heat to regional energy providers. In 2022, Microsoft Corp. partnered with Fortum Oyj, a Finnish utility, to acquire and distribute energy sources to the local network. The similar use of data center heat is being made in Stockholm.