Nebius unveils plans to build one of Europe's largest AI factories as region scrambles for compute

Nebius unveiled plans on Tuesday to build a new AI data center in Finland, which it says will be one of Europe's largest when up-and-running, as the region races to develop the compute infrastructure needed to power the AI boom.

The new facility will be based in the Finnish city of Lappeenranta with a capacity of up to 310 MW. Nebius said it expects the data center to begin initially supplying customers by 2027.

"We have been building in Finland for many years and are pleased to be expanding our presence here," said Nebius CEO Arkady Volozh in a statement.

"Lappeenranta represents a significant addition to our global AI infrastructure build-out, and will make a significant contribution to achieving our capacity goals."

Europe's AI buildout

It comes amid a slew of AI infrastructure announcements across Europe.

French AI startup Mistral said Monday it had secured $830 million in debt financing to operate a data center near Paris. That came after a February announcement of a 1.2-billion-euro ($1.38 billion) plan to build data centers and compute capacity in Sweden.

U.K. startup Nscale announced it had raised $2 billion at a $14.6 billion valuation earlier this month, with plans to develop AI data centers in its home market alongside Europe and the U.S.

Meanwhile, 2025 saw MGX, Bpifrance, Mistral and Nvidia unveil plans for a 1.4 GW AI campus in France and Brookfield said it would invest up to $9.9 billion in an AI data center in Sweden. OpenAI said it would launch a Stargate-style AI data center in Norway last year, in partnership with Nscale.

But while AI compute commitments in Europe have come thick and fast, the region faces acute challenges as it looks to build out infrastructure. The price of energy in Europe is higher than in the U.S. and projects face challenges connecting to national grids or accessing alternative sources of energy.

Nebius, which is headquartered in the Netherlands but listed in the U.S., has emerged as one of Europe's leading neoclouds providing AI compute. The company is targeting more than 3 GW of contracted power by the end of this year. Shares were up 2.4% in premarket trading.

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon

Nebius shares year-to-date.

In the EMEA region, Nebius has secured more than 750 MW of contracted power, the company said, including an AI factory near Lille, France, that it expects to have a capacity of 240 MW when fully deployed. Earlier this month, Nebius said it had secured approval for its first gigawatt-scale AI data center, which would be based in Missouri, U.S.