Nevius announced plans on Tuesday to build a new AI data center in Finland. Once up and running, it will be the largest in Europe as the region races to develop the computing infrastructure needed to power the AI boom.
The new facility will be based in Lappeenranta, Finland and will have a capacity of up to 310MW. Nebius said it expects the data center to begin supplying first customers to customers by 2027.
“We have been operating in Finland for many years and are pleased to expand our presence here,” Nebius CEO Arkady Volozh said in a statement.
“Lappeenranta is an important addition to our global AI infrastructure buildout and will significantly contribute to achieving our capability goals.”
Strengthening AI in Europe
This comes amid a number of announcements regarding AI infrastructure across Europe.
French AI startup Mistral announced Monday that it has secured $830 million in debt financing to operate a data center near Paris. This comes after a €1.2 billion ($1.38 billion) plan to build data centers and computing capacity in Sweden was announced in February.
British startup Nscale announced earlier this month that it had raised $2 billion at a valuation of $14.6 billion, and plans to develop AI data centers in its home market alongside Europe and the United States.
Meanwhile, in 2025, MGX, Bpifrance, Mistral, and Nvidia Brookfield announced plans to build a 1.4 million kW AI campus in France and will invest up to $9.9 billion in an AI data center in Sweden. OpenAI announced last year that it was partnering with Nscale to launch a Stargate-style AI data center in Norway.
But while Europe’s AI computing efforts are progressing rapidly, the region faces serious challenges as it seeks to build out its infrastructure. Energy prices in Europe are higher than in the United States, and projects face challenges connecting to national grids and accessing alternative energy sources.
Headquartered in the Netherlands and listed in the US, Nebius has emerged as one of Europe’s leading neoclouds offering AI computing. The company aims to have over 3GW of contracted power by the end of this year. Shares rose 2.4% in premarket trading.
Nebius stock price since the beginning of the year.
Nebius has secured more than 750 MW of contract power in the EMEA region, including its AI plant near Lille, France, which the company says will have an expected capacity of 240 MW when fully deployed. Earlier this month, Nevius announced it had secured approval for its first gigawatt-scale AI data center, based in Missouri, US.
