Finland Plans to Invest Over €10 Billion to Build a 600 MW AI Data Center

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 8, French AI infrastructure company Sesterce plans to invest more than €10 billion to build a large-scale artificial intelligence data center campus at the site of the former Kaipola paper mill in Jämsä, Central Finland. The project adopts a phased development model. Phase one is planned to have a computing capacity of 200 MW and is scheduled to begin construction in 2026; phase two will increase the campus's total capacity to 600 MW. Sesterce has already secured one major customer and plans to leverage the existing industrial facilities to advance the project.

The project site is located at the former Kaipola paper mill, which closed in 2021, and plans to use the existing power grid, water treatment systems, buildings, and logistics connections to convert the site into AI computing infrastructure. The plant site is currently owned by the real estate company Kaipola Green Port, and Sesterce is in negotiations with it for the acquisition of the entire site. According to the latest update from the company's head, site cleanup and initial indoor works have already begun, and the land transaction is still underway.

The campus will be equipped with a closed-loop liquid cooling system and will combine collected rainwater and recycled reclaimed water to meet cooling needs, without using drinking water for cooling. Sesterce also plans to adopt an adjustable-load operating model for the computing facilities and to study waste heat recovery from servers during the design phase. The high-voltage grid managed by local grid operator Elenia is already connected to the former paper mill site, providing an existing grid connection basis for phase one of the project.

Sesterce has committed that within 10 years after the campus begins operation, it will promote the addition of renewable energy facilities to Finland's grid on the principle that each 1 MW of electricity consumed by the campus corresponds to 1 MW of newly added renewable energy generation capacity. The relevant new power sources must come from newly built facilities, and the project's energy commitment will be subject to independent third-party audits and disclosed annually.

The project is expected to provide approximately 2,000 jobs during construction and retain approximately 300 long-term positions after full operation. Sesterce plans to prioritize local Finnish contractors and subcontractors and to establish a €10 million community fund after the campus begins operation. The company also plans to continue developing AI infrastructure using existing industrial sites in Finland, with the long-term goal of forming more than 1 GW of AI computing capacity in Finland.