TikTok plans to invest 1 billion euros in building a second data center in Finland in less than a year, moving European user data storage to the continent, company executives said on Wednesday.
The announcement comes as ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, in January avoided a ban in the United States due to data protection concerns, and as European countries step up pressure on social media companies to protect children from their addictive algorithms.
TikTok announced a new investment of 1 billion euros in a data center with an initial capacity of 50 megawatts (MW) and a total potential capacity of 128 MW in Lahti, located in southern Finland.
The investment is part of the company’s ‘€12 billion European data sovereignty initiative, which provides industry-leading protections for the data of more than 200 million European users,’ the company told Reuters.
Finland has become a hotbed for data centers as companies like Microsoft and Google look to reduce energy costs and meet climate targets, drawn by the country’s cool climate, low-cost, low-carbon electricity and a stable, business-friendly regulatory environment within the European Union. However, Finnish politicians were alarmed by TikTok’s plan to build its first center in Finland, after Reuters revealed the information in April last year.
Although the Finnish Ministry of Defense had approved the investment in 2024, politicians had not been informed. Finland’s then Economy Minister Wille Rydman last year called for the project to be ‘reconsidered’ due to safety concerns and a lack of transparency regarding the company’s plans.
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“At the very least, I hope this real estate development company reconsiders once again whether it really wants TikTok as a tenant,” Rydman told Finnish public broadcaster Yle, referring to TikTok’s local partner.
TikTok said its European users’ data is currently stored with enhanced security measures in three data centers in Norway, Ireland and the United States. Its first Finnish data center, in Kouvola, is expected to come into operation by the end of this year, and the second by 2027.
The mayor of Lahti celebrated the new investment decision.
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‘In the context of Lahti, the investment is substantial. We are pleased that a master lease agreement has been signed and that the project is progressing as planned,’ Lahti Mayor Niko Kyynarainen said in a statement.
