Google invests 1 billion euros in Finnish data centre to drive AI growth

HELSINKI: Alphabet-owned Google will invest an extra 1 billion euros (US$1.1 billion) into the growth of its knowledge centre campus in Finland to pressure its synthetic intelligence (AI) replace enhance in Europe, it acknowledged in a commentary on Monday (May perhaps maybe perhaps 20).

In most up-to-date years, many knowledge centres were positioned within the Nordic countries as a result of the gap’s cooler local climate, tax breaks and necessary availability of renewable vitality.

Finland’s Nordic neighbours Sweden and Norway contain currently grown increasingly extra severe of web hosting them, with some industry consultants arguing that Nordic countries can also aloof use their renewable vitality for merchandise corresponding to inexperienced metal that might maybe slide away increased surplus mark within the countries.

But Finland’s wind vitality capacity has increased so in most up-to-date years, by 75 per cent to 5,677 megawatts in 2022 by myself, that on windy days costs contain plummeted to adverse, industry statistics confirmed.

Therefore there might be aloof renewable capacity obtainable for knowledge centres corresponding to Google’s, which acquires wind vitality in Finland below lengthy slide contracts.

Analysts have faith knowledge centres’ vitality consumption is space to vastly develop as a result of the snappy enhance in AI usage, which Google, too, cited as one in all the causes within the assist of its investment decision, alongside its Hamina knowledge centre in Finland already working with 97 per cent carbon-free energy.

“Heat coming out of our Finnish knowledge centre will be re-routed to the district heating network in nearby Hamina, covering local households, schools and public provider constructions,” Google acknowledged within the commentary. It added that it aimed to plan web zero emissions across all of its operations and value chain by 2030.

Moreover to its Finnish investment, the search and cloud extensive launched final month it can well salvage unusual knowledge centres within the Netherlands and Belgium.