Summary
- The Mikkeli development is planned to scale from an initial 50MW to 165MW of contracted IT capacity.
- Closed-loop cooling and provision for waste-heat recovery are being designed into the Finnish campus from the outset.
- Independent analysis cited by the developers puts indicative regional investment at €1.0bn–€1.7bn at full scale.
Cerebras Systems and Compute Nordic Finland have started construction of a data centre in Mikkeli that is planned to reach 165MW of contracted IT capacity, adding another large AI infrastructure development to Finland’s expanding pipeline.
The first 50MW phase is already under construction, according to Cerebras, with the facility intended to scale first to 80MW and eventually to the full 165MW. The capacity is backed by a series of service orders carrying seven-year contract terms, giving the scheme a firmer demand basis than projects being advanced primarily on prospective customer interest.
Compute Nordic Finland is leading project development, operator responsibility, the customer interface, and programme governance. Cerebras will use the site as long-term infrastructure for its AI compute platform.
The developers have also put power and thermal design near the centre of the project. The campus is being designed with closed-loop cooling systems that recirculate water instead of relying on continuous withdrawals from the municipal supply, while provision for recovering waste heat is being incorporated into the site.
A contract-backed Nordic build
The staged construction model is notable as developers across Europe try to distinguish committed demand from increasingly large pipelines of proposed AI capacity. Contracted capacity does not remove construction, power, or delivery risk, but seven-year service orders give the Mikkeli project a commercial foundation that many early-stage schemes do not yet disclose.
That distinction has become increasingly important in the Nordic market. DataCentral reported in August that European AI-focused colocation signings reached 420MW during the first half of 2026, with roughly two-thirds of the contracted capacity heading to Nordic markets.
Finland is attracting projects partly because large sites can combine electricity availability, cooler ambient conditions, land, and potential heat-reuse routes. Those advantages still have to survive the physical delivery process: transmission and distribution capacity, substations, equipment lead times, cooling plant, construction labour, and the customer’s ability to bring compute into service on the same timetable.
Mikkeli’s phased structure provides some protection against those risks. Rather than requiring the full 165MW to be delivered at once, the project can add infrastructure as capacity becomes operational. It also places greater emphasis on the initial 50MW, where construction progress will provide a clearer test of the programme than the ultimate headline figure.
Investment estimate reaches €1.7bn
Cerebras cited analysis from Ramboll’s 2025 Finnish Data Center Market Study and Impact Assessment Report estimating that the full 165MW development could represent between €1.0bn and €1.7bn of regional investment.
The same analysis estimated between 80 and 250 direct permanent jobs and €0.8m–€2.5m in annual property tax revenue once the project reaches full scale. Those numbers remain indicative rather than committed project expenditure or employment figures, but they show the scale of local economic expectations now attached to large AI infrastructure schemes.
The longer-term operational requirement is also material. A campus of this size needs power and cooling engineering, networking, security, facilities management, and maintenance capability long after the initial construction workforce has left. Compute Nordic says it is working with the City of Mikkeli and regional partners on the development and associated workforce.
Thermal integration will be another test. Waste-heat recovery is easier to specify in a design than to turn into useful energy at scale; viable projects need a nearby heat demand, appropriate temperatures, connecting infrastructure, and a commercial arrangement that works for both the data centre and heat network. Designing the capability into Mikkeli from the start at least avoids some of the retrofit constraints faced by operating facilities.
The project now moves from a large contracted capacity announcement into the harder part of the programme: delivering the first 50MW, then demonstrating that power, plant, cooling, and customer deployments can support the planned progression to 80MW and eventually 165MW.
