Google to Invest €13 Billion in AI Infrastructure in Finland, the “Texas of Europe”

[Financial News]  

Google announced on the 9th (local time) that it would invest at least €13 billion in AI infrastructure in Finland. This is Google’s largest-ever investment in Europe.
Google appears to have chosen Finland as SpaceX plans a space-based AI data center amid shortages of land and electricity.
According to CNBC, Finland is emerging as a key location for data centers amid the AI boom. It has abundant land and electricity, both of which are in short supply across much of Europe.
Google said in a statement that it would invest at least €13 billion by 2028. In addition to building data centers, it has signed a long-term agreement with a nuclear power plant to secure electricity. Google will receive power from Finnish energy company Fortum for 22 years.
Just as U.S. hyperscalers facing shortages of data-center sites and electricity have turned to vast Texas, Finland is also being called the “Texas of Europe” and has recently attracted AI companies.
Pure DC decided in July to invest €1.5 billion to build a data center in Finland with 110 megawatts (MW) of computing capacity. It also plans to expand the facility to more than 550 MW.
Archem is planning a data center with capacity of up to 500 MW. In March, Nebius announced plans to build Europe’s largest AI data center in Finland.
Matti Lajunen, a partner in the real estate practice at Finnish law firm Hannes Snellman, said, "Demand for AI infrastructure in Finland is enormous right now." He added, "The industry calls Finland the ‘Texas of Europe.’"
Meanwhile, Texas is leading the global AI data-center boom. Hyperscalers such as Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Google, along with AI companies such as Anthropic, are building large data centers there. In November last year, Google announced that it would invest $40 billion in Texas by 2027 to build data centers.


[email protected] Song Kyung-jae Reporter