Data Centers, Digital Business and Gaming Industry

Kainuu – Nordic Supercomputing Hotbed

Kainuu’s most significant growth industry is the data centre ecosystem, centered on the Renforsin Ranta Business Park, formerly a UPM paper mill until its closure in 2008. Since then, Kajaani has emerged as an internationally significant location for data centers and a key player in the field of high-performance computing (HPC).

Kajaani’s first anchor case was the Finnish government’s CSC – IT Centre for Science, who have built a high technology, low carbon footprint data centre to house its two national supercomputers.

This was followed by Herman IT (colocation and capacity service provider) operating a high performance and cost-effective modular data centre. In February 2024, Icelandic Borealis Data Center announced the acquisition and subsequent AI/HPC expansion of the Herman IT Kajaani Data Center.

In January 2025, XTX Markets announced their plans to invest in Kajaani and to develop a state-of-the-art data centre complex in an proximity of Renforsin Ranta business park. The construction of its first data centre is to be completed in 2026, and the company intends to build four additional data centres on the same site in the coming years.

In November 2024, Google announced of buying a total of 1 400 hectares of land in Kajaani in Kainuu and Muhos in neighboring Northern Ostrobothnia to expand its cloud and data centre infrastructure in Finland.

High-Performance Computing and AI

In June 2019 EuroHPC Joint Undertaking decided to place one of the pre-exascale supercomputers (LUMI) to CSC’s data centre in Kajaani. The supercomputer is hosted by the LUMI consortium. The LUMI (Large Unified Modern Infrastructure) consortium countries are Finland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland. LUMI is one of the world’s best-known scientific instruments for the lifespan of 2021–2027.

In December 2024, it was announced that the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking had selected the hosting sites for the next EuroHPC supercomputers and AI Factories. One of the selected sites is the LUMI AI Factory supported by a consortium led by CSC. The consortium consists of the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway and Poland. In the beginning, the LUMI AI Factory will leverage the power of the LUMI supercomputer, that will gradually be replaced by a new AI-focused supercomputer called LUMI-AI. This system will leverage a large, accelerated partition utilising next-generation GPUs.

The LUMI-AI computing environment will be complemented by an experimental quantum computing platform named LUMI-IQ, designed for workloads combining quantum computing and artificial intelligence. This one-of-a-kind platform will open completely new horizons for research. LUMI-AI and LUMI-IQ will form the most advanced public quantum-accelerated HPC+AI research infrastructure in the world.

Kajaani Data Center Ecosystem

Kajaani offers a unique combination of improved infrastructure, skilled professionals, and high quality of life – making Kajaani the ideal location for data centers, AI companies, and digital industries. Kajaani Data Center Ecosystem connects the region’s data centers, businesses, and other stakeholders. The ecosystem offers specialized expertise, services, and unique collaboration opportunities. By fostering open dialogue and shared initiatives, the Kajaani ecosystem offers opportunities for knowledge exchange and joint development.

GameCity Kajaani

The success story of Kajaani University of Applied Sciences and the local gaming companies has created a whole new branch of business in Kajaani and put the city on the world map with a bang. Kajaani is the birthplace of Finnish game development education, and has been creating success stories for almost 20 years.

Gaming is only easy for the gamers. The gaming industry is a very competitive and tough field. However, Kainuu and Kajaani have proved that small beginnings can lead to truly impressive results. It all started with the fist gaming-related degree at Kajaani University of Applied Sciences in 2005. Today, the gaming industry is a vibrant field of business and an important factor in the regional economy of Kainuu.

GameCity Kajaani is all about positioning the city as a center of creativity and innovation in the gaming industry by actively engaging in community building and supporting local talent. Through these efforts, Kajaani is shaping itself into a global destination for aspiring developers and creative minds alike. As an authentic game city, it offers the perfect environment to level up your skills.

Corporate Highlights

CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd.

CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd has its data centre in Kajaani, in the former premises of UPM’s paper warehouse. It has cost-efficient data centre solution in line with sustainable development.

Borealis data center

Nestled in Finland’s Renforsin Ranta Business Park, Borealis Kajaani campus is designed for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI), and is powered entirely by renewable energy sources.

XTX Markets

Construction of the first XTX Markets data centre in Kajaani has been started with completion planned for 2026. The company intends to build four additional data centres on the same site in the coming years.

Renforsin Ranta Business Park

Renforsin Ranta business park on the banks of the Kajaaninjoki River, right next to the centre of Kajaani, stands out from other Nordic data centre options with its production readiness and successfully implemented reference projects.

GameCity Kajaani

GameCity Kajaani is all about positioning the city as a center of creativity and innovation in the gaming industry by actively engaging in community building and supporting local talent.

Kajaani University of Applied Sciences

Kajaani University of Applied Sciences (KAMK) is an international learning community which operates in its own compact campus area. KAMK has achieved great success in Finland in Ministry of Education and Culture outcome barometers. In particular the quality of teaching and counseling has been considered the best in Finland for several years running.

Eltel Group

Eltel is a leading European provider of technical services for the critical infrastructure networks – Infranets. With close to 9,000 employees in nine countries and net sales of more than €1 billion annually.

Loiste Ltd.

One of Finland’s top energy companies, based in Kajaani.  Loiste has approx. 200,000 customers throughout Finland. The company had a turnover of EUR 121 million in 2018.

Opportunities – Renforsin Ranta Business Park

The rapidly developing Renforsin Ranta business park on the banks of the Kajaaninjoki River, right next to the centre of Kajaani, provides unbeatable advantages: the existing building stock offers diverse premises for companies’ needs, the park features extensive industrial infrastructure with railway connections, the business park produces diverse commodities for the needs of companies, and environmentally friendly electricity is readily available for the needs of the largest data centre.

Renforsin Ranta offers unique opportunities for diversified industrial, manufacturing and service companies that need space and energy. The area is home to a sawmill, biofuel plant, data centres, offices and call-centres, among others. The Renforsin Ranta business park is the perfect location for data centres looking for cost-efficiency and environmentally friendly facilities.

Renforsin Ranta is easily accessible with good logistics. Kajaani has good, reliable connections to the rest of Finland. Kajaani can be reached by plane from Helsinki in an hour. The business park is served by an operational railway connection. The area is also easily accessible by road through its own gate, even for large articulated vehicles.

The area stands out from other Nordic data centre options with its production readiness and successfully implemented reference projects. The former paper mill area of Renforsin Ranta offers tens of thousands of square metres of data centre space. The region produces surplus hydro and wind power, which ensures the availability of renewable energy also in the future. The utilisation of waste heat in the district heating network enables negative carbon dioxide emissions for data centre operations.