The scale of the infrastructure plan

Google announced that it will invest at least €13 billion, or approximately $15.1 billion, in Finland over the next two years. The company calls this its largest investment in Europe; the plan includes three new data centers in the north of the country. [1 · Reuters]

The funds will also go toward strengthening electricity grids, clean energy and battery systems. Google links the capacity to the operation of Gemini, Search, Maps and YouTube, while northern Finland’s cold climate allows lower server-cooling costs. [1 · Reuters]

Expert commentary

A separate part of the project is a 22-year contract with Fortum under which Google will purchase up to 50% of the output of the Loviisa nuclear power plant. Reuters[1] calls it Google’s first nuclear energy deal outside the US; the companies will also explore new nuclear and renewable projects. [1 · Reuters] [2 · The Wall Street Journal]

the investment shows that deploying large amounts of computing capacity increasingly involves securing long-term generation as well as servers and buildings. This moves competition among cloud companies to the level of energy systems, where timelines are measured in decades. [1 · Reuters] [2 · The Wall Street Journal]

Sources

  1. Reuters — Google’s investment plan in Finland — September 9, 2026
  2. The Wall Street Journal — Google and Fortum’s energy agreement — September 9, 2026