Google LLC will invest €1 billion, or $1.1 billion, to expand a data center campus it built in southern Finland more than a decade ago. 

The Verge reported the plan today. A Google spokesperson told the publication that the data center expansion is designed to “further unlock the potential of AI,” which hints the company may install additional machine learning hardware in the facility. The Alphabet Inc. unit recently detailed a new internally developed chip, Trillium, that it describes as its fastest AI processor to date.

Google didn’t disclose what infrastructure upgrades the investment will buy. However, the search giant did tell Bloomberg that it plans to grow its on-site workforce by 25% to 500 staffers over the next 18 months as part of the project. 

The data center campus at the center of the initiative is located about 90 miles east of Helsinki in a seaside town called Hamina. Google built the facility (pictured) in 2011 at an initial cost of €200 million. According to the company’s web page for the data center, it has since invested another €1.8 billion in the campus.

Bloomberg reported that the region has a “good supply of renewable power.” According to industry estimates cited by Reuters, Finland’s wind power capacity increased by 75% in 2022 alone, to 5,677 megawatts. Google has set a goal of powering all its operations using renewable energy by the end of the decade.

Data center servers generate a significant amount of heat while running applications, particularly if they contain AI-optimized chips. Graphics cards have a larger thermal footprint than a central processing units that often requires specialized cooling equipment to manage. Google will reportedly use the excess heat generated by its Hamina data center to warm nearby buildings.

The search giant’s data center equipment already powers the air conditioning system in its onsite offices. According to The Verge, Google will expand the program significantly by making the facility’s excess heat available for local homes, schools and public service buildings.

The search giant is partnering with a local utility operated by the Hamina municipality to carry out the initiative. The goal is to eventually meet 80% of the local district’s annual heating demand. Ben Townsend, Google’s global head of infrastructure strategy and sustainability, told Bloomberg that the availability of the infrastructure necessary for such heat distribution initiatives “may start to steer new site selection opportunities” in the future.

The investment comes about a month after Google announced plans to spend $2 billion on a new data center campus in Indiana. The search giant also said that it will expand three existing data center campuses in Virginia at a cost of $1 billion. A few days earlier, Google detailed a $1 billion initiative to build new subsea internet cables in the Pacific.

Photo: Google