Google will invest €13 billion (about $15.1 billion) in Finnish digital infrastructure and has signed a 22-year agreement to buy up to half the output of one of Finland's nuclear plants — the first deal of its kind in Europe.

The investment, planned for 2027 and 2028, will fund three new data centres in northern Finland and is expected to contribute roughly €3.6 billion to the country's GDP during construction. Google called it its single largest investment in Europe.

Under the power purchase agreement with the Nordic utility Fortum, Google will buy up to 50% of the capacity of the Loviisa nuclear power plant from 2030 to 2049. The contract starts in 2028 at reduced capacity and covers the plant's lifetime-extension period, helping keep Loviisa running through 2050. The plant, which houses two Soviet-designed VVER-440 reactors, supplies about 10% of Finland's electricity.

For Google, the deal addresses the central constraint on AI expansion: power. Data-centre operators are racing to lock in large volumes of low-carbon electricity for decades, and nuclear has become an increasingly favoured answer for firms that want firm, round-the-clock supply rather than intermittent renewables. Google has made similar moves in the United States; Finland marks its first nuclear purchase agreement outside its home market.

For Fortum, the 22-year contract provides the long-term certainty needed to justify extending and upgrading Loviisa. Fortum's shares rose on the news.

The tie-up also fits Finland's pitch as an AI-adjacent investment destination, with cool northern conditions for cooling and a grid already rich in low-carbon generation. It lands as European policymakers debate how to keep the continent's data-centre buildout from being throttled by grid capacity and permitting.

Sources