Google is acquiring 50 hectares of land in Hamina, Finland, next to its long-established sea-cooled data center.

The search giant is buying land adjacent to its existing data center campus from the city of Hamina for €4.3 million ($4.5m). The deal has reportedly been approved by city officials.

Google purchased the Summa Mill in Hamina from the Finnish paper company Stora Enso in 2009. It opened its first data center on the site in 2011, notable for its seawater cooling system.

The site has been upgraded and expanded several times since – the latest was reportedly completed last year – and Google opened a cloud region in Finland in 2018. Google said it has spent €1.2 billion ($1.26bn) on the campus to date.

Google has not yet decided how it will use the newly acquired land, but Lauri Ikonen, Operations Manager of the Hamina data center, said the company has the opportunity to expand its operations in Hamina with the new area if required.

"At the moment, however, it is too early to say how enlargement will take place," he said.

"We have had an excellent partnership with Google for over a decade. This opportunity for Google to expand its operations is very important locally to Hamina, but it is also important at the regional and national level," added Hamina Mayor Hannu Muhonen.

Last year Google bought a large plot of land and gained permission for a data center in Horndal, Sweden. It also acquired 120,000 square meters (1.29 million sq ft) of land in Taulov, in Denmark’s Fredericia municipality adjacent to its existing Danish data center.

2022 has seen Google launch new US cloud regions in Columbus, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; as well as its first Spanish region in Madrid and an Italian region in Milan. It is also expanding its footprint in Omaha, Nebraska; and acquired land in Kansas City.

The company has paused its plans for a data center in Luxembourg, however, after local protests, and concern over the fact that the data center could use as much as 12 percent of Luxembourg's electricity.