The groundbreaking ceremony for Microsoft's data centre project took place on Wednesday 21.5.2025 at the Espoo data centre construction site. The event symbolically laid the foundation stones for all three future data centres in Espoo, Kirkkonummi and Vihti.
The event was attended by Microsoft management, government and project communities. Minister of Finance Riikka Purra brought the greetings of the state to the event, and Erkki Eerola, Mayor of Vihti, emphasised in his speech the historic nature of the investment for Vihti.
"For us in Vihdi, this is much more than a basic data centre area. This is the most significant single investment in the more than 500-year history of our municipality. More than 5 years ago, we set out to plan the Vihti of the future and to build our municipality into an increasingly vibrant place to live for our residents, businesses and the third sector. I am extremely pleased that as part of our municipality's development journey we have been able to partner with Microsoft and Fortum and play our part in driving Microsoft's historic ICT investment in Finland", said the Mayor.
The project is exceptional in size and has required close cooperation between Microsoft and the different departments of the municipality at different stages of the project. Even before the foundation stone was laid, the project has been visible in Vihdi in the form of a number of collaborative projects.
"The cooperation with Microsoft has been excellent and it has been clear from the very beginning of the project that Microsoft is not just an investor in our region. Everything we have done on the project has been driven by a desire to be a partner, a builder of our community and a good neighbour. Excellent examples of this are the Data Centre Academy launched with Luksia and Omnia, the Siuntionjoki 2030 partnership and the grants to organisations, all of which demonstrate a willingness to do more together", said the Mayor.
Vihti at the heart of a sustainable data economy
Microsoft is currently building three data centres in Finland. For Vihti, the project will have a significant impact on the vitality, skills and profile of the municipality. According to the mayor, Vihti is looking strongly to the future through this investment:
"Data centres will be the gateways of the future, and enablers of digitalisation, innovation and carbon neutrality. It is therefore important that alongside data centres, we also build the skills of our society to exploit their potential. Microsoft's collaboration with Luksia and the AI Academy are great examples of how to make new learning accessible - also in Vihti."
More information
Hennariikka Niinistö
Communications Director
Microsoft Oy
hennariikka.niinisto@microsoft.com
040 845 8066
Erkki Eerola
Mayor
erkki.eerola@vihti.fi
044 467 5231
