Google announced on Monday that it has invested close to 600 million euros in building a new data centre in Hamina, Finland.
The new data centre will be located on the premises of the former Summa paper factory lot, just like the first data centre in Hamina that Google opened in 2011. This brings Google’s total investments in Hamina to 1.4 billion euros.
Hamina, a town and municipality, is located about 145 kilometres east of the Finnish capital Helsinki and has a population of slightly over 20,000 people.
Largest-ever investment in Hamina
”Google’s significant data centre investment is good news and an indication of a stable and competitive environment. This investment strengthens Finland’s digital infrastructure," says Jari Gustafsson, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
Hamina’s municipal head Hannu Muhonen is also pleased with Google’s decision.
”This is the largest ever single investment in Hamina’s history and it will have a positive effect on employment during the construction phase and after," says Muhonen. "The investment also increases the attractiveness of the whole region. For over a decade, cooperation between Google and the City of Hamina has worked very well," he adds.
According to Google's country director for Finland Antti Järvinen, "the need for Google's services is growing day by day; we are building our data centre infrastructure to meet this need, which in turn has a positive impact on the Finnish economy, including through the creation of jobs."
Data centre growth in Finland
Google's announcement follows on the heels of last October's news that US-headquarted consortium Silent Partner Group is planning to build three massive data centres in Finland.
One of the centres is reportedly to be built in the town of Hamina, which is the same location as the two of Google's data centres, while the other site is planned in the municipality of Sotkamo, located in the Kainuu region.
In November, the Finnish Data Centre Forum reported that Silent Partner Group will open a fourth data centre in Tornio, Finland.