‘People don’t realize how scarce the compute capacity and the inference capacity is today. It’s still early days with the amount of capacity that’s available for what we and companies want to do with AI,’ says Justin Copie, CEO of Innovative Solutions.
Google is investing $15 billion into AI infrastructure to expand its Gemini offering and core services in Finland, which includes building at least three new data centers.
“People don’t realize how scarce the compute capacity and the inference capacity is today,” said Justin Copie, CEO of solution provider Innovative Solutions.
“It’s still early days with the amount of capacity that’s available for what we and companies want to do with AI,” he said. “That’s why you see things like usage limits, and you see costs continue to be a thing people are concerned about.”
[Related: Pythian’s IA Model Via Google Gemini Drives ‘Million-Dollar Outcomes’ For Customers]
The tech giant said its $15 billion investment will be spent over the next two years on digital infrastructure, clean energy projects and economic partnerships across Finland.
Innovative Solutions’ CEO said hyperscalers like Amazon and Google are “sinking so much capital expense into data centers today” with the goal of seeing massive “ROI in two, three or maybe even four years from now because they know that it’s absolutely needed.”
Google’s $205 Billion Spending Plan For 2026
Google’s investment overseas is part of Google’s $205 billion CapEx spending plan in 2026 focused on AI infrastructure and data centers as demand for compute capacity explodes.
The $205 billion figure is an increase from Google’s initial estimate of spending around $190 billion and capital expenditures at the start of the year.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based tech giant expects to continue increasing CapEx spending significantly into 2027.
In terms of Google’s new $15 billion investment in Finland, Bikash Koley, vice president of Google’s global infrastructure, said the goal is to “meet growing demand for Google’s core services—such as Search, Maps and Gemini— that people and businesses rely on every day.”
“[It’s] our largest single investment in Europe,” said Koley in a statement.
Google’s $15 Billion Investment Details; Nokia To Provide Tech
Google will invest billions in building three new data centers in Finland in the regions of Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala.
The company will also expand its existing facility in Hamina.
The project is expected to support more than 37,000 jobs across Finland during the construction phase and around 7,000 jobs once the facilities are operational.
Elisa Oyj and Nokia will provide the telecommunications and network infrastructure needed to connect the new data centers, Google said.
Construction is set to begin in 2027.
America’s Data Center Capacity To Double In Three Years
America’s data center capacity will double in the next three years driven by aggressive hyperscalers—like AWS and Google—building out their data center footprint with over 700 data centers already in the pipeline in the U.S. alone.
“The U.S. will continue to account for over half of the world’s data center capacity, and total U.S. capacity will double over the next three years,” said John Dinsdale, chief analyst and research director for Synergy Research Group, in an email to CRN last month.
Synergy Research Group’s data shows that the more than 700 U.S.-based data center facilities that are in the pipeline will support 45 gigawatts of new capacity over the next few years.
Over the next five years, the U.S. will continue to account for well over half of the world’s operational data center capacity.
A total of seven hyperscale companies—including Amazon, Google and Microsoft—are driving much of that growth as they build out their U.S. AI campuses.
