Google has acquired a large plot of land in central Finland for a data center development.

The municipality of Vaala this week announced Google has acquired some 900 hectares in the area.

The site is about six kilometres (3.7 miles) from the center of Vaala, near Fingrid’s Nuojua substation on both sides of Ouluntie (Highway 22). Full details of the planned development haven’t been shared.

Around 380 hectares of the site were acquired from the municipality, while some 327 hectares were acquired from United Bankers’ UB Timberland Fund (AIF).

Vaala is a municipality in central Finland located in the North Ostrobothnia region. It is some 68km (42miles) northwest of Kajaani and some 91 km (56 miles) southeast of Oulu.

Minna Kärkkäinen, Mayor of Vaala, said: “The cooperation with Google has been very smooth, and we warmly welcome Google to Vaala! A possible data center area could be significant for both the municipality and the entire region, bringing a lot of jobs to Vaala already during the construction phase and later permanent employment. We are working hard to make the plans proceed to the next stages in time.”

Google has long had a data center presence in Finland and has been making moves to expand further in recent years. The company has had operations in Hamina for more than a decade, and is targeting further developments in Kajaani and Muhos.

In Hamina, the company operates a seawater-cooled data center campus on the site of a converted former paper mill. Google acquired the site back in 2009: The data center has been upgraded several times over the last 15 years, and in 2022, Google purchased 50 acres of adjacent land to accommodate further expansion.

In 2024, the company acquired 1,400 hectares in Kajaani and Muhos from state-run forest agency Metsähallitus. Full details of any planned developments haven’t been shared.

Founded in 1986, United Bankers is a Nordic asset manager focused on real estate investments. Its UB Timberland Fund (AIF) invests in Finnish forest properties. This is the fund’s first land sale for a data center project, though an energy park project is underway on a forest property owned by the fund in Hyrynsalmi, in collaboration with our renewable energy fund.

Kari Kangas, director of forest investments at United Bankers, said: “Although all forest properties in United Bankers’ forest funds were originally acquired for forestry purposes, renewable energy projects and data center developments now represent new potential revenue streams for investors.”

Most of Finland’s data centers are located in the country’s capital, Helsinki. But Finland’s environment, abundant land, and cheap green energy have attracted increasing numbers of data center developers, with the Finnish Data Center Association estimating that live capacity in the country will increase from 285MW in 2025 to 1.5GW in 2030.

Established operators, including the likes of Verne, Equinix, and atNorth, have a presence in Finland, while new entrants such as Polarnode, FCDC, Arcem, and Hyperco are planning multiple developments across the country. International operators, including QTS, Prime, Pure, and DayOne, are also looking to develop in Finland.

“Business Finland sees a lot of innovation and investment potential in the Finnish data center ecosystem, and we develop it together with data center operators, Finnish companies, and municipalities. Invest in Finland as part of Business Finland works in close cooperation with several companies planning data centers in Finland to strengthen their interest in Finnish technology and know-how,” added Jouni Salonen, senior advisor, Invest in Finland.

DCD is taking a closer look at Finland’s growing data center market in the next issue of DCD>Magazine. Register here now to read it for free.