Alphabet Inc's Finnish sites face request to suspend work at two projects

Two proposed Finnish data-centre sites face a request to suspend land-altering work while their environmental reviews remain unfinished. Alphabet Inc. NASDAQGOOGL NASDAQGOOG, Google's US-listed parent, announced proposed sites at Muhos and Kajaani, where an Oct. 6 Finnish agency request asks developer Tuike Finland Oy to suspend preparatory work.

The Finnish Supervisory Agency, or LVV, asked Tuike to suspend preparation that significantly changes the environment. The request follows Google's Sept. 9 plan to invest at least €13 billion in Finnish digital infrastructure and related projects during 2027 and 2028, including work at Muhos, Kajaani, Vaala and Hamina.

Alphabet Class A shares NASDAQGOOGL last closed at US$346.47 on Oct. 5 at 4:00 p.m. EDT on Nasdaq, according to Google Finance. That dated quote precedes the Finnish notice and cannot show a share-price reaction to it. The Oct. 6 notice gives no revised construction schedule or cost estimate for either site.

LVV offered Tuike until Oct. 14 to submit a written explanation if it wishes, and asked whether it intends to follow the request. LVV set Oct. 23 as the latest date for suspending the specified work, pending completion of the environmental impact assessments. It said it would consider administrative enforcement if Tuike did not comply; its Oct. 6 notice is a request to stop work, not an announcement that enforcement has begun.

The Agency Identified Clearing And Earthworks

The Oct. 6 Muhos letter describes a proposed site of about 571 hectares with nine planned data-centre buildings. It says Tuike reported in a Sept. 25 response that logging and preparation covered about 330 hectares, while surface soil removal, temporary storage areas and drainage work had taken place. Those figures describe the Muhos site and the company's account to the agency, rather than a completed assessment of both projects.

LVV's request covers tree removal, topsoil stripping, excavation, blasting, crushing, moving earth, ditching and building site roads or storage areas. Planning, measurements, soil investigations and easily reversible work with minor effects fall outside the request. That distinction leaves design work possible while the agency examines whether substantial site preparation has overtaken the environmental review.

In its Sept. 25 explanation reproduced in the Muhos letter, Tuike said the work carried out did not require a permit under municipal building-control guidance and cited a provision allowing preparation before construction. The same letter records the municipality's position that its guidance was not a building permit; the municipality said no construction or landscape-work permit had been issued for the project. Neither account establishes that the environmental assessment has been completed.

Tommi Muilu, head of LVV's environmental department, said in the agency's Oct. 6 notice that trees had been removed, topsoil stripped, site roads and storage areas built, and ditches altered. He said extensive preparation could weaken the assessment's ability to examine alternatives and prevent environmental harm. The Oct. 6 notice says both assessments are unfinished and refers to an estimated 2026 completion of the EIA report. The Muhos letter places that site's report at the end of 2026.

Google's Finland Buildout Has A 2027 Construction Window

Google's Sept. 9 announcement placed initial construction in 2027 and 2028 and described its planned Finnish spending as its largest single European investment. It also announced €31 million for local communities over four years in Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala, alongside projects to restore native forests and wetlands near its sites.

"We’re funding projects to regenerate native forests and wetlands near our sites, and building accessible recreational trails, public saunas, and fishing piers for the community to enjoy," Google vice-president of global infrastructure Bikash Koley wrote in the Sept. 9 announcement.

The announced restoration work does not settle LVV's concern about when ground-altering preparation should occur. According to the agency, the assessments are meant to identify likely significant effects before decisions on construction and major preparatory steps.

Finland is also in the expansion plans of Applied Digital Corporation NASDAQAPLD, a Dallas developer and operator of data centres for AI and other computing workloads. Its Oct. 6 announcement described access to up to one gigawatt of potential power capacity, with investment and development decisions tied to customers, commercial milestones and regulatory requirements. That is potential supply for a separate project, not a signed lease or an assessment of Google's sites.

Mugglehead's earlier report on Applied Digital's Finnish power arrangement put the country's prospective AI capacity beside Google's much larger spending plan.

Read more: Applied Digital Corporation signs Finnish deal for up to 1GW of potential power

Oct. 14 is LVV's deadline for any written explanation Tuike chooses to submit. Oct. 23 is the latest date by which LVV has asked Tuike to suspend the specified land-altering preparation while the environmental assessments continue.