What is the current state of the data center market in your region?
Currently the data center market isn’t incredibly active in Finland due to the high cost of energy, but it is one of the fasting-growing markets in the Nordics. We’re expecting to see more activity when all our sustainable energy plans (especially wind and solar energy) are realized, which will be happening over the next few years.
As it stands, the majority of existing data centers are within Helsinki, which is a rapidly evolving market. Otherwise, there’s a handful of centers scattered around the southern half of the country. We do have big players, here, though: Google has a data center in Hamina, and Microsoft announced in 2022 that they’re going to build a new data center region in Southern Finland.
What are the key drivers and goals of the data center business in your region?
Our country’s goal of being fully carbon neutral by 2035 is a helpful boost to getting wind power plants (off- and onshore) fully up and running, which will also enable access to cheap sustainable energy. Access to a strong, reliable electricity network and vast amounts of open space and suitable buildings are also encouraging data center investments. Like most other countries, we’re also seeing a push for digitalization, which is supported by a massive increase in 5G coverage.
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