By Essi Lehto
HELSINKI, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google will invest at least €13 billion ($15.1 billion) in artificial intelligence infrastructure in Finland over the next two years and has signed its first nuclear power contract outside the U.S., it said on Wednesday.
The Finnish deal includes a 22-year purchase agreement for up to 50% of the energy output of one of Finland's two nuclear plants, its operator Fortum said separately.
Nuclear power, as a source of large amounts of low-carbon energy,
is one of the attractions Finland offers as companies including Microsoft and TikTok owner ByteDance as well as Google seek sites for data centres while containing energy costs and meeting climate goals.
"This is Google's first nuclear energy deal outside of the United States, and we think it's a really important cornerstone to everything that we are doing here," the U.S. company's Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat told reporters in Helsinki.
Fortum and Google will also explore the development of new nuclear and renewable energy in Finland, the companies said.
Fortum's share price rose 10% by 0825 GMT, outperforming a 1.4% increase in the Helsinki benchmark stock index.
BIGGEST DEAL SO FAR IN EUROPE
Alphabet this year increased its global investment to between $195 billion and $205 billion as it seeks to capture growing computing demand. Google said the AI investment deal in Finland is the biggest yet in Europe.
The investments will include data centres, electricity grid improvements and clean energy and battery projects driving services such as Gemini, Search, Maps and YouTube, Google said in a statement.
"The new digital infrastructure will serve as building blocks for Finnish and broader European digital readiness, innovation, and AI development," the company said.
The investment, to be undertaken in 2027 and 2028, will contribute some $3.6 billion to Finland's gross domestic product during the construction phase, and is projected to support some 7,000 jobs annually once operational, Google said.
Finland's Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said in a statement Google's decision was "a clear testament to our strengths".
"The value of the data economy extends far beyond direct investment into spurring innovation, research, and development," he added.
In its statement utility Fortum said the long-term purchase deal provided economic certainty for a lifetime extension and upgrade of the Loviisa power plant through 2050. The plant is situated near Google's Hamina data centre.
Apart from copious amounts of low-emission power, Finland's cold climate lowers costs because it reduces the amount of energy needed to cope with the heat produced by data centres.
($1 = 0.8603 euros)
(Reporting by Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik and Barbara Lewis)
