Finland is the most interesting country in the world for data centers

With the growing computing needs of AI and cloud services, the data center industry is experiencing explosive growth. This understanding was reinforced at the international data center industry event held in Cannes, where Miltton was also in attendance.

The most striking observation at the event was Finland’s exceptional attractiveness and high visibility at global tables. Finland was the talk of the town – discussed in the corridors, around dinner tables, and on panels. International developers crowded the Finnish pavilion, eagerly inquiring about grid connections and available land plots.

A delegation of over a hundred Finnish companies and other actors – all earning their living from various parts of the data economy value chain – had traveled to Cannes. The Finns were there to secure business deals, drive growth, and build networks.

The entire domestic ecosystem of the industry was well-represented: energy providers, technology companies, project developers, operators, construction firms, various service providers, and municipalities seeking to attract data center investments to their regions.

In the event’s discussions, one theme rose above all others: the availability of electricity. A reliable and sufficient power grid is akin to digital oil – and Finland possesses it in exceptional abundance. This is precisely why Finland was highlighted even in the congress’s opening keynotes.

A stable power grid, clean energy production, streamlined permitting for new generation, and excellent power availability form a competitive advantage that many countries can only dream of. Elsewhere, new projects simply cannot secure enough electricity quickly enough.

In other countries, companies are going as far as building off-grid data centers powered by fossil-fueled gas turbines. Additionally, there was significant buzz at the congress about data centers constructing their own dedicated nuclear power plants and supplemental power sources to meet their soaring energy demands.

After the summer holidays, attention is expected to shift toward the parliamentary elections, and specifically toward the next government’s policy decisions regarding data centers. These decisions could impact every link in the data center value chain. Consequently, the industry’s societal acceptance will become crucial: what exactly do Finland, its municipalities, and its citizens gain from these data center projects?

The sector needs fact-based advocates, as the current public discourse is too often driven by fear and emotion. It is time for those who make a living from the industry, make innovations, and close deals on international stages like Cannes to participate more actively in the public debate. This dialogue will heavily influence the social acceptance and the future of the operating environment for the data center industry in Finland.

The data center industry has the potential to become a new, modern, and sustainable pillar of Finnish industry that generates collective prosperity. Data centers drive investments, jobs, expertise, tax revenues, innovations, and export potential. Finland has a uniquely massive opportunity to make the data economy into a cornerstone industry that creates jobs, scales rapidly, and competes on a global level.