French AI and supercomputing infrastructure company Sesterce has announced plans for a $10 billion AI data center campus in Jamsa, Finland, to be built on the site of the former Kaipola paper mill. Work is set to begin this year, according to the announcement reported by Data Center Dynamics.
The campus will open with 200MW of capacity in its first phase, with Sesterce expecting to increase that to 600MW in a second phase. The company says it has already secured an anchor customer for the site, though it has not named that customer.
Sesterce has committed to "enabling" one megawatt of newly built renewable generation capacity on the Finnish power grid for every megawatt the campus consumes, within 10 years of the campus becoming operational. The site will use a closed-loop liquid cooling system supplemented with harvested rainwater and recycled water, and the company will establish a $10 million community fund to finance local projects in Jamsa.
Youssef El Manssouri, CEO of Sesterce, said the plan aims "to preserve the area's industrial identity while making use of existing infrastructure, including the power grid, water systems, buildings, and logistics connections." Jamsa Mayor Jori Reijula called the project "an interesting opportunity to strengthen the vitality of the region, provided it progresses from plans to implementation and meets the applicable requirements."
Sesterce previously announced a $471 million investment to develop an AI data center in Valence, France, last year.