atNorth Plans €2 Billion FIN05 Data Center in Salo, Finland

HELSINKI — Nordic data center provider atNorth on Oct. 5 announced plans to develop FIN05, a new data center campus in Salo, Finland, with an estimated investment of approximately €2 billion. The company said power for the first phase, planned at 75 MW, is secured, with a path to up to 230 MW for the wider development.

atNorth Chief Executive Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson said the project is intended to develop critical digital infrastructure while working with the region to create lasting local value. Regant Oy, which worked with atNorth and the municipality to provide a development-ready site, is the development manager for the project.

FIN05 Site and Power Details

FIN05 will be developed on a 28.6-hectare site in the Kärkkä industrial area of Salo, near the former sugar factory. The site equates to roughly 286,000 square meters, or about 3.08 million square feet. The city of Salo sold approximately 7 hectares of the broader site, while the complete data center area covers nearly 29 hectares.

Power for the first phase is planned at 75 MW and is secured, according to atNorth. The wider development has a path to power of up to 230 MW and will connect through a Fingrid substation. Fingrid is Finland's national electricity-transmission operator. atNorth's materials on its future sites identify up to 160 MW of IT capacity for the 230 MW campus.

atNorth said Salo's proximity to Helsinki and Finland's digital talent pool also support development of the site, which it described as suited to customers with demanding requirements for connectivity and resilience.

Investment Scale: €2 Billion for atNorth, Up to €10 Billion in Customer Equipment

atNorth estimates its investment in the Salo site at approximately €2 billion. That figure does not include servers owned by customers or their installation, which the company said could represent a further investment of up to an estimated €10 billion.

Under the structure typical of large colocation and built-to-suit developments, the operator funds the campus along with electrical and cooling infrastructure, while customers fund the IT equipment. The announcement describes a development and investment commitment rather than a property sale or financing transaction.

Energy Partnerships and Heat Reuse

atNorth said it plans to enter into long-term power purchase agreements with local energy suppliers to support energy production in the region. It also plans flexibility solutions that could support the efficient operation of Fingrid's transmission grid. The company said it will work with local stakeholders to explore opportunities to use heat generated by the data center.

The heat reuse plans build on existing collaborations with Kesko Corporation in Finland, Stockholm Exergi in Sweden, and Vestforbrænding and Selected Group in Denmark. The commercial value of heat reuse in Salo will depend on the availability of a nearby district-heating or industrial heat customer, the temperature and continuity of the recovered heat, and the infrastructure needed to transport it.

"FIN05 is an opportunity to develop critical digital infrastructure while working with the region to create lasting local value," Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson said. "We are exploring how local energy partnerships, flexibility solutions and heat reuse can contribute to the wider energy system and community. We look forward to working with Salo and regional partners as the project develops."

Local and Development Partner Comments

Anna-Kristiina Korhonen, Mayor of Salo, said the new data center will create employment opportunities during construction and ongoing operations and generate wider economic benefits for local businesses. "This development strengthens our position as an attractive destination for innovative industries and supports sustainable long-term growth for our community," Korhonen said.

Matti-Juho Ervasti, a partner at Regant Oy, said: "This project demonstrates Salo's potential as a location for major digital infrastructure investment. We have worked closely with atNorth and the municipality to provide a development-ready site, with the scale, planning readiness and power roadmap needed for large data center projects."

Market Context: Finland's Data Center Pipeline

The project is large relative to the Finnish data center market. A 2025 study estimated Finland's operating data center market at roughly 285 MW, with potential capacity exceeding 1.5 GW by 2030. On that basis, FIN05's initial 75 MW would equal roughly 26% of the cited current market, while the full 230 MW campus would equal about 81%. The comparison is directional, as the market estimate and project capacity use different definitions and FIN05 will be developed over time.

Finnish data centers consumed approximately 1.6 TWh of electricity in 2024, just under 2% of national consumption, with consumption projected to reach 5–6 TWh by 2030. Fingrid has outlined approximately €7.2 billion of transmission-infrastructure investment through 2035. DC Byte data indicates that Finland's total data center IT load pipeline exceeds 1.5 GW, with about 82% of supply still in early-stage development. In that context, secured first-phase power distinguishes FIN05 from the larger pool of pre-development projects.

atNorth's Nordic Expansion

FIN05 is part of atNorth's continued investment across the Nordics, alongside developments in Stockholm and Sollefteå in Sweden, Haugaland in Norway, Ølgod in Denmark and Kouvola in Finland. atNorth is headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland, and operates seven data centers across the Nordics, with four mega sites under development in Kouvola, Ølgod, Sollefteå and Haugaland, plus a metro site under development in Stockholm.

Separately, Partners Group announced in October 2026 that it would sell atNorth at an enterprise value of approximately $4 billion. During Partners Group's ownership, atNorth expanded to eight operational data centers alongside additional sites under development. Reported figures for atNorth's secured power differ by source, likely reflecting different reporting dates or definitions of secured capacity.

Sources

atNorth, "atNorth to develop new data center in Salo, Finland": https://www.atnorth.com/news/atnorth-to-develop-new-data-center-in-salo-finland/