Nordic data center firm Scale42 is planning a new development in Kitee, Finland.

Kitee this week announced plans to sign a preliminary property purchase agreement with data center developer Scale42.

The deal, to be discussed at a city meeting next week, concerns a 10-hectare plot in the northern part of the Kitee Puhos industrial area.

Scale42 reportedly plans to build a new AI-enabled data center in the area, with construction to start next year for a 2027/28 launch date. Further details weren’t shared.

William Tasney, CEO of Scale42, said: “From the first discussions, Kitee has felt like a true partner – practical, welcoming, and forward-looking. Kitee is a place with strong industrial roots and pride. We want to be part of its next chapter, the transition to a digital economy and the creation of high-skill digital career paths that enable young people to build their future in their hometown. Finland’s exceptionally clean and reliable electricity makes Kitee one of the best places in Europe to deploy the latest AI equipment responsibly. We are grateful to the city and the community for their support as we embark on this exciting project together.”

Scale42, led by the founders of Fjord Power and Hydrokraft (now AI cloud firm Nscale), reportedly has a development pipeline exceeding 1GW across the Nordics.

The company recently partnered with private equity firm APL for a 60MW data center project in Varkaus, Eastern Finland (some 120km/75 miles west of Kitee), and also formed a joint venture with energy transmission firm Global Interconnection Group for a planned campus in Iceland.

“It has been a pleasure to discuss the possibility of building a data center in Kitee with Scale42 representatives. We are particularly impressed by how the people at Scale42 take into account local conditions and the local residents,” Pekka Hirvonen, Mayor of Kitee, added. “Economically, the project will bring significant added value to the area through new jobs. The new company and jobs will strengthen the local community’s faith in the future. The developing Puhos industrial area and Puhos port are strategic focus points for Kitee. Puhos is also an excellent location for other new companies. Scale42’s data center is a perfect fit for the area.”

Kitee is a town and a municipality in the province of Eastern Finland, and is part of the North Karelia region, close to the country’s eastern border with Russia.

Earlier this year, reports surfaced that the city was in the final stages of contract negotiations with an unnamed European data center operator over a ten-hectare plot in the Puhos industrial area.

Business Finland lists a Puhos Brown Data Center Site available for development in Kitee. An existing industrial area with a former chipboard factory building, the area totals more than 100 hectares and currently offers a 10MW power supply scalable up to 200MW via connection to the national grid. The excess heat can be recovered with a cost-efficient natural water cooling, and there is a possibility for a connection to a district heating network.

Most of Finland’s data centers are located in the country’s capital, Helsinki. Established operators, including the likes of Verne, Equinix, and atNorth, have a presence in Finland, while newer operators such as Polarnode, FCDC, Arcem, and Hyperco are planning multiple developments totaling gigawatts of capacity across the country. International operators, including QTS and DayOne, are also looking to develop in Finland.

Further south in the Haapahuhta area of Riihimäki, a company called Data Prop A Oy is planning a data center. However, the site is home to the protected Haapahuhta spring.

The company, which filed for an exception to build on the site earlier this year, recently filed a new exception application with the regional state administrative agency to develop on the site.