February 13, 2009

Google will buy the site of a former paper mill in Finland for €40 million (US$51 million), with preliminary plans to build a data center

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter this year. Part of the site will be transferred back to the city of Hamina, which is east of Helsinki toward Finland's border with Russia.

"We are currently considering building a data center at this site, and, as with any sort of construction project, there are a number of contingencies to be resolved and plans to be put in place," according to a Google statement.

Stora Enso, a paper production company, said the mill was closed in January 2008 after years of losses.

Google continues to bolster its data centers in Europe to increase capacity for its services. One of Google's largest data centers outside the U.S. is in St. Ghislain, Belgium.

Google also bought a tract of farmland in Kronstorf, Austria, last year for a new data center.