For Finland’s small city of Kouvola, the centre would bring money and jobs. But the social media giant as the tenant poses a political headache for Helsinki
Kouvola needs all the jobs it can get. Young Finns who have not already left a small city so drab it could be stuck in the Soviet Union struggle to find work.
So when an international company called Hyperco announced it would exploit the freezing north’s temperatures and ready access to cold water to build a data centre in the area, there was general acceptance of it being a pretty good thing.
After all, the few million euros paid for a parcel of empty land seemed a good deal for everybody.
