AtNorth Seeks Permit to Triple Size of Planned Finnish Data Center Campus
February 9, 2026
Nordic data center operator atNorth has filed a building permit application to significantly expand its planned campus in Kouvola, Finland, a move that underscores the region's growing appeal for sustainable, high-capacity digital infrastructure. The expansion request, reported by Finnish national broadcaster Yle and set for local council review this week, highlights the intense demand for compute power in the Nordics, driven by the AI boom and the search for energy-efficient locations.
The company is seeking approval to construct three additional data center buildings at its FIN04 site in the Ummeljoki/Myllykoski area of Kouvola, located approximately 135 kilometers northeast of Helsinki. This filing represents a major scale-up from the project's initial announcement in late 2023. Originally planned as a 23-hectare site opening with 60MW of capacity, the company's current plans now envision a campus spanning 45 hectares with a total potential capacity of 430MW, with a path to "several hundred additional megawatts."
Ground was broken on the first building in 2024, with atNorth's website indicating the initial phase is slated for operation in the first half of 2026. The FIN04 campus is designed with sustainability as a core feature; it will be connected to the local district heating network operated by KSS Energia, allowing waste heat from the servers to be reused for community heating.
The proposed expansion in Kouvola is a strategic component of atNorth's broader growth across the Nordic region. The operator, which was acquired by Swiss investment manager Partners Group in late 2021, currently runs seven facilities across Sweden, Iceland, and Finland, with more under development in Denmark and Norway. Its Finnish portfolio already includes acquired sites in Vallila and Espoo, with another 15MW facility announced for Espoo. The scale of the FIN04 project reflects the strategic importance of Finland's stable grid, cool climate, and renewable energy resources for future-facing data center deployments. Industry reports suggest major US colocation firms Digital Realty and Equinix are vying to acquire atNorth, indicating strong investor confidence in the Nordic data center market's trajectory.
Source: datacenterdynamics
