HELSINKI | Thu Aug 2, 2012 10:04am EDT
HELSINKI Aug 2 (Reuters) - Google will invest 150 million euros ($184.5 million) in doubling the size of a data centre housed in a former paper mill in eastern Finland, the company said, as it responds to growing demand for its services.
Companies like Google have been expanding data centres due to the increasing popularity of cloud computing services, which allow users to store and process data at massive remote data centres instead of on their own computers.
Finland and other Northern European countries are popular sites for data centres, with vast amounts of hydro-power and cold climates which cut the need for cooling, the main cost for many data centres.
Google's data centre in Hamina uses a sea water cooling system that was part of the old paper mill which Google bought from Stora Enso in 2009.
Europe's top paper maker closed the loss-making mill in 2008 after nearly 53 years of operation. Older parts of the mill were designed by renowned Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.
