Fifteen years ago, a shuttered paper mill in Hamina, Finland sat quiet, its machinery stilled. Today, that same site hums as a Google data center — and now it's about to become the anchor of something far bigger. Google announced Wednesday it is pouring €13 billion (about $15 billion) into digital infrastructure and clean energy projects across Finland, marking the tech giant's single largest investment anywhere in Europe. Think of it as planting a flag not just in a country, but in the future of artificial intelligence itself.

Fueling the AI Engine

The Alphabet Inc.-owned company said the two-year investment push is designed to keep pace with surging demand for its bread-and-butter services — search, maps, and its AI assistant Gemini — services that increasingly run on hungry, power-thirsty infrastructure behind the scenes.

From Converted Mill to Vital Hub

"Since we converted a former paper mill in Hamina into a data center 15 years ago, Finland has been a vital hub for Google," said Bikash Koley, the company's vice president of global infrastructure. He framed the new commitment as a deepening of that relationship rather than a one-off bet: "Today, we're deepening that commitment with a €13 billion investment in digital infrastructure, clean energy projects and economic partnerships."

New facilities are now on the drawing board across the country, with Google predicting a significant ripple effect through the Finnish economy.

The "Texas of Europe"

Here's where the story takes an unexpected turn — Finland has earned itself a nickname usually reserved for the American Southwest. During the construction phase alone, Google's investment is expected to support more than 37,000 jobs and add €3.6 billion annually to Finland's GDP, a nation now nicknamed the "Texas of Europe."

Matti Lajunen, a partner at Finnish law firm Hannes Snellman Attorneys Ltd., explained the comparison isn't accidental. It echoes the sheer density of data centers found in the U.S. state of Texas, mirroring Finland's rise as one of Europe's most coveted destinations for similar projects.

A Market Moving at Full Speed

According to Lajunen, Finland's energy and data center investment scene has shifted from steady to sprinting. "What we're now seeing is weekly new inquiries for market entry into Finland from new players," he said. Even more strikingly, he noted that renewable energy developers are increasingly rebranding themselves as data center developers — a sign of how tightly the two industries have become intertwined as clean, dependable power becomes the fuel that data infrastructure can't run without.

Powering It All: A Nuclear-Sized Handshake

In a second major announcement Wednesday, Google revealed it has locked in a 22-year power purchase agreement with Nordic energy company Fortum Power and Heat Oy. The deal will help extend the operational life of the Loviisa nuclear power plant while also expanding onshore wind capacity — a dual bet on both old and new energy sources.

Loviisa sits on Finland's southeastern coast, owned by Fortum and positioned roughly 50 kilometers from Google's Hamina data center — close enough that the two sites practically share a horizon.

The power agreement will start small in 2028, then scale up dramatically, eventually consuming half of Loviisa's nuclear output between 2030 and 2049 — a long runway built for the long game of AI infrastructure.

Words From Fortum's Chief

Markus Rauramo, Fortum's president and chief executive, called the partnership a cornerstone for the plant's future. The "collaboration with Google provides a strong foundation for the continued development and reliable operation of our Loviisa power plant for decades to come," he said. Fortum chose not to disclose its legal advisers, and legal counsel information for Google was not immediately available.

Investing Beyond the Data Centers

Google isn't just building servers — it's building relationships with the communities around them. The company said it plans to invest in local areas including Hamina and Kajaani, a town north of Helsinki, with initiatives aimed at training Finnish students for careers in the data center industry — seeding the workforce that will one day keep these digital engines running.