HELSINKI (AFP)

Google will invest at least 13 billion euros in data centres and other digital infrastructure to power its AI ambitions in Finland, in what the US tech giant called Wednesday its biggest single investment in Europe.

The $15 billion plan also calls for clean energy projects over the next two years, which Google said was "a testament to Finland's leadership in responsibly building AI infrastructure".

It will partner with Finnish companies and four municipalities across the country: Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala.

The buildout aims to power several of the tech giant's services, including its AI chatbot Gemini.

"This investment is historical in Finland," the country's Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told AFP after a press conference.

He called it a sign that "we have done the right things in Finland", citing investments in the power grid, electricity production, and the labour force.

"This makes us a front-runner in digitalisation and AI," Orpo said.

Since buying a former paper mill and transforming it into a data centre in the coastal city of Hamina in 2009, Google has steadily increased its presence in the country.

The construction phase of the new investments is expected for 2027 and 2028, and Google estimated it would boost Finland's GDP by 3.6 billion euros annually and "support more than 37,000 jobs".

Around 16,000 of these jobs will be in the construction sector.

After the construction phase, running the new operations will support around 7,000 direct and indirect jobs annually, Google said.

With its cool climate and relatively stable and cheap electricity thanks to nuclear plants as well as extensive wind and hydro power, Finland has seen a boom in data centres in recent years, with dozens already under construction.

The boom in data centres is expected to rapidly increase power consumption, with the network operator Fingrid forecasting a 40 percent jump in the coming years.

Finnish utility Fortum announced Wednesday that it had signed a 22-year deal to supply power to Google, allowing it to "continue operating the Loviisa nuclear power plant until the end of its operating licenses in 2050".