TikTok plans second investment in Finland

Social media company TikTok has unveiled plans to spend 1 billion euros ($1.17 billion) on the building of a new data center in Finland, its second large-scale investment in the northern European country in less than 12 months, Reuters reported, citing executives.

Construction at the first site, in the southeastern city of Kouvola, began last September, and it is hoped it will be operational by the end of this year, with the second facility, around 60 kilometers away in Lahti, intended for use next year.

The company says that currently its European user data is spread across three centers, in Ireland, Norway, and the United States. The mayor of Lahti, Niko Kyynarainen, welcomed the new investment, saying it was "substantial. We are pleased that a main tenant agreement has been signed and that the project is progressing as planned".

Finland is seen as a very business-friendly country from a regulatory point of view, and its cold climate and cheap, clean energy have made it a particularly attractive place for technology data centers to be based, with major companies including Google and Microsoft also having large facilities there.

TikTok says the data center will have an initial capacity of 50 megawatts, or MW, rising to a potential figure of 128 MW, and a company representative told Reuters it was part of a "12 billion (euro) European data sovereignty initiative delivering industry-leading protections for the data of over 200 million European users".

Last year, China and Finland marked 75 years of diplomatic relations, and at the start of this year, Finland's Prime Minister Petteri Orpo made a state visit to China, where he held talks with Premier Li Qiang.

Orpo said in the meeting that his government "welcomes Chinese companies to invest and do business in Finland and is willing to create a favorable environment for this", adding that Finland was also happy to play a constructive role in promoting the advancement of Europe-China relations.

Li also encouraged Chinese businesses to invest in Finland, saying: "We hope that Finland will continue to provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises there."

The technology sector is a huge contributor to the economy in Finland, which regularly tops polls as the happiest place in the world to live, and is also world-renowned for the quality of its education system.

A European Investment Bank survey in December 2025 showed Finland to be an artificial intelligence pioneer in Europe, with 66 percent of its companies using generative AI tools, compared to an average across the European Union of just 37 percent. Their investment in new related services was also significantly higher than those in other EU nations.

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