Initial 60MW phase due second half 2025, to provide heat and hot water to the surrounding community
atNorth, the leading Nordic colocation, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence service provider, has announced further expansion into Finland with a new mega site planned on a 21 hectare plot, in Kouvola, 139KM north east of Helsinki and 52KM from the city of Hamina. The site, called FIN04, aligns to atNorth’s growth strategy and will be atNorth’s tenth data center in the Nordics and its fourth campus in Finland.
FIN04 will have an immediate power supply of 60 megawatts (MW) with the first phase, ready for operation in the second half of 2025 and a path to power to several hundred megawatts when fully built. The site will cater for both colocation customers and build-to-suit projects.
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“This agreement is yet another hallmark moment for atNorth. Kouvola is a critical location for our next site as we continue to expand and meet the growing demand for high performance services,” commented atNorth’s CEO, Eyjolfur Magnus Kristinsson. “We are in ongoing discussions with several AI companies, hyperscalers as well as international organizations requiring High Performance Computing, who see the clear benefit of moving to the Nordics to decarbonize their IT workloads. True to our vision, we are leading the way in future-proofed data center infrastructure across the Nordics.”
The Kouvola region is known for its sustainability practices. The city promotes a circular economy throughout its infrastructure design and architecture, in line with the needs of local communities, businesses, and residents.
“Kouvola is a sought-after, sustainable destination. We welcome business investment from responsible companies like atNorth who see the benefit in helping to advance digitalization in an environmentally responsible way,” stated Marita Toikka, Mayor of Kouvola. “We are excited to collaborate with atNorth to bring innovation, digital competitiveness and sustainability to the forefront.”
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Working closely with the city of Kouvola and energy partner, KSS Energia, the new FIN04 site will be enabled with heat reuse capabilities, which will enable the recovery of excess heat from the data center to be recycled for possible reuse within the local community.
“We are excited to work with atNorth to implement a heat reuse practice that can serve as an inspiration for other businesses striving to meet sustainability targets and contribute to a better world,” stated Marko Riipinen, CEO, KSS Energia
The announcement of the FIN04 site comes off the back of atNorth’s recent acquisition of two data center sites and the construction of a third facility in Finland, as well as a planned development of a 30MW data center in Denmark, due to go live at the end of 2024. This year, the company also completed the acquisition of Gompute, adding a full stack HPC-as-a-Service offering and an additional facility in Sweden to it’s portfolio.
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