Google Confirms Data Center in Finland

It's official: Google will build a major data center at a former paper mill in Hamina, Finland, the company said today. Google bought the former Stora Enso newsprint plant for $51 million last month, and said it was "likely" to use the facility for a data center. Today Google posted details about the Hamina project on the data center section of its web site.

Google said it expected to invest 200 million Euros (about $252 million) in the project. That's a smaller investment than the $600 million the company has announced for U.S. projects in North Carolina, South Carolina and Iowa. It wasn't immediately clear whether the smaller number reflects a change in scope for Google's capital expenditures on data centers or was related to the specifics of the Hamina property.

"When fully developed, this facility will be a critical part of our infrastructure for many years to come," Google said. "Limited testing of the facility should be underway in 2010 and the center should be fully operational later that year."

Google said it expects to hire about 50 workers to staff the data center, with available job positions ranging from Linux system administrators and experienced data center managers to security contractors and technology assistants.

Stora halted production in January 2008, citing a decline in demand for newsprint. Google has agreed that part of the mill site will be transferred to the City of Hamina for other industrial uses.

See our overview of Google’s European data centers and our Google Data Center FAQ for additional information on the company’s data center infrastructure.