Helsinki, Finland — Google Inc., on Thursday said intends to build a data center on the site of an old paper mill in Summa, Hamina, Southeastern Finland, that it acquired from Stora Enso for 40 million euros about ($51.7 million), and replacing it with a data center.
“We are currently planning to build a data center at this site,” said Google spokesman Kay Oberbeck.
The Mountain View-based company, which has large number of data centers, or server farms, which consume significant amounts of energy, across the world, expects the transaction to close by the end of the first quarter this year.
"We are currently exploring to build a data center at this site, and, as with any sort of construction project, there are a number of contingencies to be resolved and plans to be put in place,” according to a Google statement.
Stora Enso, said the Summa mill, which consumed 1,000 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, was closed down last year after almost 53 years in operation due to heavy losses, and Google has agreed that part of the site will be transferred back to the city of Hamina, which is east of Helsinki toward Finland’s border with Russia.
The oldest parts of the mill were designed by renowned Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.
Google continues to bolster its data centers in Europe to increase capacity for its services. One of Google’s largest data centers outside the U.S. is in St. Ghislain, Belgium. The search giant also acquired a tract of farmland in Kronstorf, Austria, last year for a new data center.
However, Google has not yet made any official announcements on the deal, but told Reuters about the data center plans. And Google spokesman Kay Oberbeck only stated that they are exploring the possibility of building a data center.