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atNorth will develop a €2 billion data center, FIN05, in Salo, Finland, on a 28.6-hectare site, with 75 MW of power secured for the first phase and a path to as much as 230 MW. The Nordic operator announced the plan on October 5. Power will arrive through a new Fingrid substation.
Exterior view of atNorth's operational FIN02 data center facility in Finland.
The first phase is scheduled to go live in 2028, according to Data Center Dynamics.
atNorth expects to invest roughly €2 billion in the site itself. Customer-owned servers and their installation could add up to €10 billion more, a scale that reflects the high-density AI workloads the campus is built to carry.
The company plans long-term power purchase agreements with local energy suppliers, plus flexibility arrangements designed to help Fingrid operate its transmission grid. Waste heat is part of the plan, extending atNorth's existing reuse work with Kesko in Finland, Stockholm Exergi in Sweden, and Vestforbrænding and Selected Group in Denmark.
"FIN05 is an opportunity to develop critical digital infrastructure while working with the region to create lasting local value," said Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson, CEO of atNorth. "We are exploring how local energy partnerships, flexibility solutions and heat reuse can contribute to the wider energy system and community."
*"We are delighted to welcome this investment to our region,"* said Anna-Kristiina Korhonen, Mayor of Salo, pointing to construction and operational jobs and spending with local businesses.
Salo sits near the Helsinki metro and Finland's engineering talent pool, factors atNorth cited for the location. The plot was assembled with the developer Regant Oy.
FIN05 joins a Nordic pipeline that already includes the FIN04 mega site at Myllykoski, a 300 MW campus at Sollefteå in Sweden, Haugaland in Norway, and Ølgod in Denmark. The expansion follows the September 2 completion of a US$4 billion sale of atNorth to CPP Investments and Equinix, as reported by Unite.AI, after which atNorth kept its own brand and management.
Baxtel tracks 140 data center facilities across Finland, operated by 59 providers, with Google's Hamina campus the largest at 140 MW.
Power availability, not land, is what separates the winners in Nordic siting now. atNorth secured 75 MW up front and a 230 MW runway through a Fingrid connection, then lined up PPAs and heat reuse before naming a single tenant. That is the price of entry for AI-scale demand, and it favors operators with grid relationships and patient capital.
Equinix's stake sharpens that advantage. A balance sheet that size lets atNorth commit to multi-year power and phased build-outs that smaller Nordic developers cannot match, which raises the bar for every rival chasing the same Fingrid capacity.
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