Google pours over $1B into Finland data center

Google said it’s investing $1.1 billion more to expand its data center in Finland and grow the AI business in Europe. The decision highlights tech companies’ increasing preference for Nordic countries to house such buildings.

The main reason is the climate. Countries with cold weather are ideal for cooling the heat-generating data centers.

Nordic countries also have a surplus of renewable energy. For example, Finland’s wind power capacity increases so much on windy days that energy prices drop to negative some days, per industry statistics, according to Reuters. Google’s Hamina data center in the country already operates with 97% carbon-free energy.

The search engine behemoth recently announced plans to build new data centers in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Some nations like Sweden and Norway have expressed reservations about dedicating their renewable power to data centers.