TikTok will build a second data center in Finland worth a billion euros

TikTok plans to invest 1 billion euros ($1.16 billion) to build a second data center in Finland in less than a year, moving data storage for European users to the continent, company officials told xrust on Wednesday.

The announcement comes as TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, avoided a US ban in January over data protection concerns, and as European countries increase pressure on social media companies to protecting children from addictive algorithms.

TikTok has announced a new €1 billion investment in a data center with an initial capacity of 50 megawatts (MW) and a total potential capacity of 128 MW in the southern Finnish city of Lahti.

The investment is part of the company's €12 billion European data sovereignty initiative, which the company says provides industry-leading data protection for more than 200 million European users.

DATA SECURITY CONCERNS

class=»notranslate»>__GTAG7__ Finland has become a hotspot for data centers as companies such as Microsoft and Google look to cut energy costs and meet climate goals, drawn by the country's cold climate, inexpensive and low-carbon electricity, and the stable and business-friendly regulatory environment in the European Union.

Note that TikTok's plans to create its first data center in Finland aroused the wariness of officials when Reuters wrote about it in April last year.

Although the Finnish Ministry of Defense approved the investment in 2024, politicians were not informed. Finland's then-Economy Minister Ville Rydman last year called for a «reconsideration» of the project due to safety concerns and a lack of transparency about the company's plans.

TikTok said European user data is currently stored with enhanced security in three data centers in Norway, Ireland and the United States. The first Finnish data center in Kouvola is due to start operating by the end of this year, and the second by 2027.

By pages https://www.reuters

Xrust TikTok will build a second data center in Finland worth a billion euros