British tech firm brings $1 billion investment to Finland

24/01/2025, 14:23

Image: XTX Markets

UK-based financial technology company XTX Markets is investing over 1 billion euros to build data centers in Kajaani, Finland. The first center will be completed in 2026.

Construction has begun on the initial 15,000 square meter data center. The company plans to build four additional centers on the nearly 500-hectare site.

The centers will house cutting-edge machine learning and artificial intelligence technology that XTX Markets uses to analyze financial markets. The firm trades over $250 billion daily across 35 countries.

Waste Heat for City’s Use

“In Kajaani, we can bring real benefits in terms of energy and local employment,” said Mike Irwin, XTX Markets’ Chief Operating Officer.

The waste heat generated by the data centers will be provided free of charge to the city of Kajaani. Calculations show it will exceed Kajaani’s annual heat consumption.

Finnish contractors, including YIT, are responsible for construction, requiring hundreds of local workers for several years.