Google will invest at least €13 billion in Finnish digital infrastructure across 2027 and 2028, with data centres and supporting infrastructure in Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala. It is the company's largest single investment in Europe. For scale: annual industrial investment in Finland normally totals around €10 billion, and Etla puts the €13 billion at roughly a fifth of all investment flowing into the country in a year.
Google announced the investment on 9 September. It has operated in Finland since 2009 and is developing new infrastructure in Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala
Fortum has signed a 22-year power purchase agreement with Google covering up to 50% of Loviisa's capacity. Offtake begins in 2028 at a reduced volume and runs at half the plant's capacity from 2030 to 2049. The two parties also signed a memorandum of understanding to explore new flexibility capacity and new generation, including potential new reactors at Loviisa
The political reception
Every named Finnish voice in Google's release welcomed the investment without qualification: the prime minister, the climate and environment minister, and the municipal leaders of all four host locations. The caution came from outside it.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said “Finland is an attractive destination for investments, and attracting further investment remains a top priority". Speaking at Google's announcement event, he took on the question the build raises for households: energy prices will not rise because of the investments. He also said public debate in Finland tends to underestimate data centres, and that the investments mean jobs for Finns.
Climate and Environment Minister Sari Multala tied her support to supply, saying “These investments are very welcome in Finland and demonstrate that it is possible to invest in AI infrastructure in a way that benefits both local communities and the broader energy system, including other energy users. This long-term approach and commitment are exactly what we need to generate value for both investors and Finnish society. A long-term agreement with an energy company helps ensure that new electricity generation capacity is developed to meet growing demand"
The four municipalities emphasised grid position and local business. Vaala's municipal manager Minna Kärkkäinen said the municipality "is located at a key point in Finland's main electricity grid, which makes it an attractive location for industry and energy projects"; Hamina, Kajaani and Muhos pointed to regional economy, jobs and the data economy.
Outside the release, EK director Sami Pakarinen told Verkkouutiset that "this is, if anything, fantastic news for the Finnish economy."
The market reaction
Fortum closed at €21.36 on 8 September, a quiet 0.7% gain that left it up 17.5% from the 2025 year-end close of €18.18. The next session was anything but quiet. The stock jumped 15.8% on 9 September to close at €24.74 after the Google nuclear deal, its sharpest one-day gain in at least a year, taking the year-to-date advance to 36.1%
Fortum has said the agreement is expected to raise the group's comparable return on net assets by approximately 1.4 percentage points over time, once half the plant's output is contracted.
What the contract secures
Loviisa's two units are licensed by the end of 2050. The Finnish government granted that extension in February 2023, replacing licences valid to 2027 and 2030. Fortum has a lifetime-extension investment programme of about €1 billion under way — ten portfolios, more than 300 projects and states that without those investments the plant could not continue producing after 2030.
CEO Markus Rauramo said long-term partnerships are essential "especially in today's uncertain market environment characterized by low visibility and highly volatile electricity prices." Loviisa supplies around 10% of Finland's electricity and employs about 580 people.
Ownership and disclosure
Fortum is majority state-owned; the Finnish State holds just over half the shares. Half of the plant's capacity is contracted to one counterparty for the years 2030–2049. Neither party has disclosed the contract price, and Fortum's 1.4-percentage-point RONA guidance is the only quantification of the deal's value available to shareholders. The MoU on new capacity at Loviisa carries no announced timetable or investment figure.
The rest of the energy package
Onshore wind PPAs with Valorem (Ostrobothnia) and Suomen Hyötytuuli (Ostrobothnia and Central Finland) take Google's new-to-grid onshore wind capacity to 629 MW — more than the roughly 446 MW Google had previously contracted across five announced PPAs in Finland. A contracted 94 MW battery system near Kajaani is expected operational in late 2027. Fingrid CEO Asta Sihvonen-Punkka said of the site choices: "Our aim is to keep the costs of the growing electricity system competitive, while reducing environmental impacts."
Google also committed €31 million over four years across the four municipalities, including €10 million for research and innovation, AI skills training for over 4,400 workers through Google.org's AI Opportunity Fund, and a programme with EKAMI to train up to 100 students a year for data centre roles.
The economic projections, and the challenge to them
Google projects an average €3.6 billion annual contribution to Finnish GDP during construction, more than 37,000 jobs nationwide — about 16,000 in construction, at an average €911 million in annual labour income — and 7,000 jobs a year once operational, at wages 24% above the Finnish median.
Yle put the projections to Google's own Gemini, which judged the claim "economically and in scale heavily exaggerated, and conceptually misleading". Etla senior researcher Sakari Lähdemäki was more measured: "I'm critical too, but not that critical." He said €13 billion equals roughly a fifth of all annual investment into Finland, and that the decisive question is how much of it leaves the country again as imported hardware. On Yle's calculation from Google's own figures, about half the €13 billion goes on semiconductors and other materials and equipment imported from abroad, which do not add to Finnish GDP. "Imports aren't 100% of it, so some production inevitably stays in Finland too," Lähdemäki said. On the employment figures: "Google has calculated these perhaps more optimistically than with any great precautionary principle." Data centres, he said, employ heavily during construction and are largely automated afterwards.
Against Google's own capital budget, the Finnish commitment is small: Alphabet's reported 2026 capital expenditure guidance is between USD 195 billion and USD 205 billion, up from a previous range of USD 180 billion to USD 190 billion.
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Google will invest at least €13 billion in Finnish digital infrastructure across 2027 and 2028, with data centres and supporting infrastructure in Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala. It is the company's largest single investment in Europe. For scale: annual industrial investment in Finland normally totals around €10 billion, and Etla puts the €13 billion at roughly a fifth of all investment flowing into the country in a year.
Google announced the investment on 9 September. It has operated in Finland since 2009 and is developing new infrastructure in Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala
Fortum has signed a 22-year power purchase agreement with Google covering up to 50% of Loviisa's capacity. Offtake begins in 2028 at a reduced volume and runs at half the plant's capacity from 2030 to 2049. The two parties also signed a memorandum of understanding to explore new flexibility capacity and new generation, including potential new reactors at Loviisa
The political reception
Every named Finnish voice in Google's release welcomed the investment without qualification: the prime minister, the climate and environment minister, and the municipal leaders of all four host locations. The caution came from outside it.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said “Finland is an attractive destination for investments, and attracting further investment remains a top priority". Speaking at Google's announcement event, he took on the question the build raises for households: energy prices will not rise because of the investments. He also said public debate in Finland tends to underestimate data centres, and that the investments mean jobs for Finns.
Climate and Environment Minister Sari Multala tied her support to supply, saying “These investments are very welcome in Finland and demonstrate that it is possible to invest in AI infrastructure in a way that benefits both local communities and the broader energy system, including other energy users. This long-term approach and commitment are exactly what we need to generate value for both investors and Finnish society. A long-term agreement with an energy company helps ensure that new electricity generation capacity is developed to meet growing demand"
The four municipalities emphasised grid position and local business. Vaala's municipal manager Minna Kärkkäinen said the municipality "is located at a key point in Finland's main electricity grid, which makes it an attractive location for industry and energy projects"; Hamina, Kajaani and Muhos pointed to regional economy, jobs and the data economy.
Outside the release, EK director Sami Pakarinen told Verkkouutiset that "this is, if anything, fantastic news for the Finnish economy."
The market reaction
Fortum closed at €21.36 on 8 September, a quiet 0.7% gain that left it up 17.5% from the 2025 year-end close of €18.18. The next session was anything but quiet. The stock jumped 15.8% on 9 September to close at €24.74 after the Google nuclear deal, its sharpest one-day gain in at least a year, taking the year-to-date advance to 36.1%
Fortum has said the agreement is expected to raise the group's comparable return on net assets by approximately 1.4 percentage points over time, once half the plant's output is contracted.
What the contract secures
Loviisa's two units are licensed by the end of 2050. The Finnish government granted that extension in February 2023, replacing licences valid to 2027 and 2030. Fortum has a lifetime-extension investment programme of about €1 billion under way — ten portfolios, more than 300 projects and states that without those investments the plant could not continue producing after 2030.
CEO Markus Rauramo said long-term partnerships are essential "especially in today's uncertain market environment characterized by low visibility and highly volatile electricity prices." Loviisa supplies around 10% of Finland's electricity and employs about 580 people.
Ownership and disclosure
Fortum is majority state-owned; the Finnish State holds just over half the shares. Half of the plant's capacity is contracted to one counterparty for the years 2030–2049. Neither party has disclosed the contract price, and Fortum's 1.4-percentage-point RONA guidance is the only quantification of the deal's value available to shareholders. The MoU on new capacity at Loviisa carries no announced timetable or investment figure.
The rest of the energy package
Onshore wind PPAs with Valorem (Ostrobothnia) and Suomen Hyötytuuli (Ostrobothnia and Central Finland) take Google's new-to-grid onshore wind capacity to 629 MW — more than the roughly 446 MW Google had previously contracted across five announced PPAs in Finland. A contracted 94 MW battery system near Kajaani is expected operational in late 2027. Fingrid CEO Asta Sihvonen-Punkka said of the site choices: "Our aim is to keep the costs of the growing electricity system competitive, while reducing environmental impacts."
Google also committed €31 million over four years across the four municipalities, including €10 million for research and innovation, AI skills training for over 4,400 workers through Google.org's AI Opportunity Fund, and a programme with EKAMI to train up to 100 students a year for data centre roles.
The economic projections, and the challenge to them
Google projects an average €3.6 billion annual contribution to Finnish GDP during construction, more than 37,000 jobs nationwide — about 16,000 in construction, at an average €911 million in annual labour income — and 7,000 jobs a year once operational, at wages 24% above the Finnish median.
Yle put the projections to Google's own Gemini, which judged the claim "economically and in scale heavily exaggerated, and conceptually misleading". Etla senior researcher Sakari Lähdemäki was more measured: "I'm critical too, but not that critical." He said €13 billion equals roughly a fifth of all annual investment into Finland, and that the decisive question is how much of it leaves the country again as imported hardware. On Yle's calculation from Google's own figures, about half the €13 billion goes on semiconductors and other materials and equipment imported from abroad, which do not add to Finnish GDP. "Imports aren't 100% of it, so some production inevitably stays in Finland too," Lähdemäki said. On the employment figures: "Google has calculated these perhaps more optimistically than with any great precautionary principle." Data centres, he said, employ heavily during construction and are largely automated afterwards.
Against Google's own capital budget, the Finnish commitment is small: Alphabet's reported 2026 capital expenditure guidance is between USD 195 billion and USD 205 billion, up from a previous range of USD 180 billion to USD 190 billion.
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