TikTok has announced plans to build its second data center in Finland, choosing Lahti for its latest expansion.
This new project comes with a €1 billion ($1.16 billion) price tag and follows hot on the heels of the company’s first Finnish facility in Kouvola, which is expected to be up and running by the end of 2026. The Lahti facility, located in the Kiveriö district, is planned to start with a capacity of 50 megawatts (MW), with the potential to scale up to 128 MW.
“In the context of Lahti, the investment is substantial. We are pleased that a main tenant agreement has been signed and that the project is progressing as planned,” Lahti Mayor Niko Kyynarainen said, according to Reuters.
Why Finland?
TikTok isn’t the only tech company eyeing the North.
Finland has become a magnet for data hubs, attracting the likes of Google and Microsoft. The draw is simple: the country offers a naturally cold climate (perfect for cooling massive server banks), low-cost renewable energy, and a stable political environment within the European Union.
This specific move is part of a much larger strategy known as Project Clover. It’s a €12 billion initiative aimed at creating “data sovereignty” for more than 200 million European users. Essentially, TikTok wants to ensure that the data generated in Europe stays in Europe, rather than being shipped back to its parent company, ByteDance, in China.
Despite the economic boost, the arrival of TikTok hasn’t been without its critics. Some Finnish politicians have expressed concern over national security. Reuters highlighted that former Minister of Economic Affairs Wille Rydman previously questioned the company’s presence in the country.
Speaking to the public broadcaster Yle about TikTok’s local partners, Rydman said: “At the very least, I would hope that this property development company would reconsider once more whether it really wants TikTok as its tenant.”
Looking ahead
While the Kouvola site is finishing up, the new Lahti center isn’t expected to be fully operational until 2027. Once finished, it will join a network of local storage hubs in Ireland and Norway.
TikTok continues to navigate a complex relationship with the US government, where it recently avoided a ban by agreeing to a restructured oversight deal with Oracle. Its focus in Europe is clearly on building physical walls around its users’ data.
For more on Europe’s broader AI infrastructure push, read how Mistral raised $830 million to build Nvidia-powered data centers aimed at boosting regional AI independence.
