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(Sharecast News) - Google said on Wednesday that it plans to invest at least 13bn in digital infrastructure in Finland over the next two years, marking its largest single investment in Europe to date.
The investment, covering 2027 and 2028, will include data centres and supporting infrastructure in Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala, as the Alphabet company expands the capacity needed to support AI and cloud services.
Google said the programme was expected to contribute an average 3.6bn a year to Finland's gross domestic product during the initial construction phase and support more than 37,000 jobs nationwide, including around 16,000 construction roles.
Once operational, the facilities are projected to support 7,000 jobs annually.
Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, said: "Google is proud to deepen our roots in Finland with the company's largest single investment in Europe, building on more than 15 years of sustained investment in Finland."
She added that the expansion would combine new technical infrastructure with additional energy capacity, grid upgrades and measures aimed at maintaining energy affordability.
Google also announced a series of energy initiatives, including a 22-year power purchase agreement with Finnish energy company Fortum supporting the life-extension programme for Finland's Loviisa nuclear power plant, near to Google's Hamina data centre.
New wind power agreements will take the onshore wind capacity supported by Google in Finland to 629MW, while a 94MW battery storage system near its planned Kajaani site is expected to become operational in late 2027.
The company will also invest 31m in community initiatives over four years.
Alphabet shares were down 2.7% at $326.38.
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