By Supantha Mukherjee and Anne Kauranen
STOCKHOLM/HELSINKI (Reuters) -TikTok plans to take a position 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion) to construct its first knowledge centre in Finland because it strikes knowledge storage for European customers to the continent, a TikTok spokesman confirmed on Wednesday.
The spokesman declined to offer additional particulars as he confirmed the plan revealed to Reuters by two sources conversant in the matter.
Finland’s Prime Minister’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. TikTok, owned by China-headquartered Bytedance, has been making an attempt to deal with issues over whether or not the Chinese language authorities may entry the information of European residents who use TikTok. In 2023, it launched a brand new knowledge safety regime, nicknamed “Venture Clover,” with plans to take a position 12 billion euros over 10 years amid rising strain from lawmakers on either side of the Atlantic. A number of international locations, the European Parliament, European Fee and others have banned TikTok from workers telephones as a result of privateness issues, whereas the U.S. authorities has threatened to ban the app within the U.S. on nationwide safety grounds until the corporate’s U.S. property are divested.
TikTok has known as the bans misguided, based mostly on elementary misconceptions. On its web site TikTok says European consumer knowledge is saved in a devoted European knowledge enclave, hosted throughout knowledge centres in Norway, Eire, and the U.S.
Below Venture Clover, TikTok’s first knowledge centre in Norway went absolutely on-line this month after work began in 2023.
TikTok, which has over 175 million customers in Europe, plans to announce extra knowledge centres within the coming years, sources stated. Nordic international locations have change into engaging locations for knowledge centres for expertise corporations starting from Microsoft to Meta because the colder temperatures cut back power prices, alongside availability of low cost, emission-free electrical energy. “Finland is certainly one of many locations the place we’re persevering with to construct out our infrastructure,” Microsoft President Brad Smith stated on Wednesday in Brussels. “First we’ve numerous entry to carbon free power, and second, it is obtained good connectivity, so we’re in a position to serve a lot of Europe from Finland,” he stated.
Greater than 20 new knowledge centres are being deliberate in Finland, amounting to some 13 billion euros in worth and 1.3 gigawatts in capability, Veijo Terho, chairman of the Finnish Knowledge Centre Affiliation stated.($1 = 0.8801 euros)
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm, Anne Kauranen in Helsinki and Foo Yun Chee in Brussels;Modifying by Elaine Hardcastle)
