Finland halts work on Google's data centre sites as Japan plugs an AI campus straight into a power plant
A Finnish regulator stops work at Google's Muhos and Kajaani sites, JERA, Dell and RHAELM plan a 400MW AI campus at a Chiba power plant, HUMAIN's Saudi build moves into construction, and AWS's Homer City plans surface.
The week in 30 seconds
- Europe: Finland's environmental regulator ordered Google to halt work at its Muhos and Kajaani sites, while atNorth and Applied Digital announced new Finnish campuses.
- Asia Pacific: JERA, Dell and RHAELM agreed to build a 400MW AI campus powered directly by a JERA gas plant in Chiba.
- Middle East & GCC: MIS received the first 50MW work order under its 250MW HUMAIN contract, moving Saudi Arabia's flagship AI build into construction.
The headline story
Finland is Europe's busiest new data centre market, and this week it showed both sides. On 6 October the Finnish Supervisory Agency ordered Google to halt work at its Muhos and Kajaani sites while it investigates whether forest was cleared without the mandatory environmental impact assessment. Google said it had fallen short of its standards and will comply. The sites are part of the €13bn Finland programme announced in early September.
The same week, atNorth announced a campus at Salo with a 75MW first phase, power secured and a path to 230MW, and US developer Applied Digital secured up to 1GW of potential power in Finland for its first campus outside the US.
Talent signal: environmental compliance, permitting and community relations are now board-level hires for Nordic hyperscale builds. Developers entering Finland also need country leads who know the local grid and permitting system, and there are very few.
AI infrastructure watch
The GPU and AI factory moves of the week, and the leadership they need. More on our AI infrastructure page.
Japan builds an AI campus at the power plant
JERA, Dell and RHAELM plan a 400MW AI campus powered directly by JERA's Chiba gas plant, a model they aim to repeat at gigawatt scale (TNW).
Talent signal: leaders who can run AI compute and power generation as one programme.
Qatar's Qai deploys sovereign GPU infrastructure
The QIA-owned AI company is installing latest-generation GPUs at MEEZA to keep AI workloads under Qatari jurisdiction (Gulf Times).
Talent signal: GPU cluster operations heads for sovereign AI programmes across the Gulf.
AI labs hire hyperscaler delivery leaders directly
Anthropic's reported hire of Google's head of global data centre design and construction shows AI labs building their own delivery teams (Baxtel).
Talent signal: the senior design and construction pool is being drained from the top.
Firmus heads to the ASX to fund GPUs
Firmus set an IPO price for a raise of at least US$5bn to buy GPUs for its Batam AI campus (The Edge).
Talent signal: listed neoclouds will compete harder for GPU operations leadership in Asia Pacific.
North America
TeraWulf doubles contracted power at its Kentucky campus to 1GW
An amended agreement with Kentucky Power lifts the Muskie campus to 1GW, with the second 500MW phase pulled forward to 2029, subject to regulatory approval (Finviz).
Talent signal: hyperscale construction and critical facilities operations leaders for a former bitcoin miner turned AI host.
LS Power closes a $6bn fund, citing data centre demand
LS Power's oversubscribed Fund VI will back generation, storage and grid assets, including about $1.7bn committed to buying Constellation gas assets (POWER).
Talent signal: asset management and power marketing leaders at private equity backed generation platforms.
AWS plans for a multi-building Homer City campus surface
Plans filed with Indiana County in August and reported this week describe a 36-building AWS campus of about 2,200 acres at the Homer City Energy Campus, built from December 2026 to 2036 alongside a 4.5GW gas plant (Baxtel).
Talent signal: multi-phase programme directors and large operations teams in western Pennsylvania.
Europe
Finland orders a halt at Google's Muhos and Kajaani sites
Work must stop no later than 23 October, with Google's written response due on 14 October (Al Jazeera).
Talent signal: environmental and permitting leadership for Nordic builds.
atNorth announces a Salo campus scalable to 230MW
atNorth's first major new site since its acquisition by CPP Investments and Equinix has a 75MW first phase with power secured, connecting via a Fingrid substation, and about €2bn of site investment (atNorth).
Talent signal: Finland site leadership, construction managers and heat reuse partnership managers.
Applied Digital secures up to 1GW of potential power in Finland
The US developer's first non-US campus expects initial power from 2028 and is being marketed to hyperscalers (Applied Digital).
Talent signal: a European MD, a Finland country lead and grid and permitting specialists.
Middle East & GCC
MIS receives the first HUMAIN work order, covering 50MW
Al Moammar Information Systems received Work Order No. 1 under its 250MW HUMAIN agreement, moving the programme from contract to construction (Asharq Al-Awsat).
Talent signal: site leadership, QA and QC, and commissioning managers in Saudi Arabia, now urgent.
Qai deploys sovereign GPU infrastructure at MEEZA in Qatar
The QIA-owned AI company is installing GPU infrastructure in a MEEZA facility with managed operations, keeping data under Qatari jurisdiction (Gulf Times).
Talent signal: GPU cluster operations heads and high-density facility managers, from a small local pool.
S&P expects the UAE and Saudi Arabia to add 2 to 3GW by 2030
S&P Global's research projects that Middle East capacity roughly triples by 2030, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia taking more than 80% of the GCC share (TradingView, via Zawya).
Talent signal: delivered megawatts, not announced gigawatts, will drive real leadership demand.
Asia Pacific
JERA, Dell and RHAELM plan a 400MW AI campus at a Chiba power plant
The partners signed a non-binding agreement for a campus of more than US$15bn that takes power directly from JERA's gas plant, with operation around 2028 and ambitions for several gigawatts across JERA sites (TNW).
Talent signal: hybrid roles spanning power generation and data centres, and Japan programme directors.
Microsoft wins approval for a 96MW Sydney data centre
The A$1.26bn Huntingwood facility in western Sydney has 40 data halls and a 140MVA cap (W.Media).
Talent signal: hyperscaler critical facilities and operations leadership in western Sydney.
Thailand creates a separate legal category for data centres
The government approved five size classes by power use and lower tariffs for direct renewable supply, after pausing 49 projects earlier (Asia News Network).
Talent signal: compliance and energy procurement leads as paused Thai projects restart.
Firmus sets an IPO price for its ASX listing
The Australian neocloud set a price of A$11 a share for a raise of at least US$5bn to fund GPUs for its Batam campus; later reports differ on final terms (The Edge).
Talent signal: public capital is open to APAC neoclouds, and with it the need for listed-company leadership.
New money
| Who | What | Amount | Region | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JERA, Dell and RHAELM | AI campus at JERA's Chiba power plant | US$15bn+ | Asia Pacific | TNW |
| LS Power | Fund VI for generation, storage and grid assets | About $6bn | North America | POWER |
| Firmus | ASX IPO priced at A$11 a share (final terms unconfirmed) | At least US$5bn | Asia Pacific | The Edge |
| atNorth | Site investment at Salo | About €2bn | Europe | atNorth |
| Microsoft | Huntingwood data centre, Sydney | A$1.26bn | Asia Pacific | W.Media |
New capacity
| Project | Region | Size | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applied Digital, Finland | Europe | Up to 1GW potential | Applied Digital |
| TeraWulf, Muskie | North America | 500MW to 1GW | Finviz |
| JERA, Dell and RHAELM, Chiba | Asia Pacific | 400MW | TNW |
| atNorth, Salo | Europe | 75MW to 230MW | atNorth |
| Microsoft, Huntingwood | Asia Pacific | 96MW | W.Media |
| MIS and HUMAIN, first work order | Middle East & GCC | 50MW | Asharq Al-Awsat |
Leadership moves
- John M. Wilson, Google's head of global data centre design and construction, has reportedly joined Anthropic to lead EMEA capacity delivery (Baxtel). AI labs are now hiring delivery leaders directly from the hyperscalers.
The T4X view
Japan's model of building at the power plant, and Finland's halt for skipping an assessment, are two answers to the same problem: the grid and the permit are slower than the money. The scarcest leaders this quarter are those who can run a campus where power, planning and construction are one programme. AI labs hiring hyperscaler delivery heads directly will make that pool smaller still.