Translation: Original published in Finnish on 9/2/2026 at 7:55 am EEST.

Data center construction has begun to show increasingly clearly in the order books and figures of the construction cluster companies in our coverage. In our estimation, data center projects bring much-needed additional demand to the construction market, though not enough on their own to fill the exceptionally deep void left by the residential construction slump in recent years. In our view, volume flows disproportionately to the largest operators, as project scale increases and delivery reliability becomes a key differentiator. Our assessment focuses primarily on companies' exposure to data center investments from a construction perspective, though we also cover select companies outside the traditional construction industry. The figures and estimates used are based on our best current knowledge, though we note the market is evolving rapidly, making market size and growth pace difficult to pin down with precision.

Boom creates opportunities for builders, but not without risk

The ongoing AI investment boom is the primary driver of data center construction. The world's largest technology companies have multiplied their data center investments within just a few years, repeatedly raising investment guidance as computing capacity has become a strategic bottleneck. In addition hyperscalers building for their own needs, third-party data center operators and developers are also commissioning significant capacity. While the vast majority of capital flows into servers and IT equipment, the slice allocated to construction, building services, and engineering is large enough in absolute terms that data centers have become one of the fastest-growing segments in the global construction market. Beyond construction, data centers are also a significant growth driver for electricity and telecommunications network providers.

Breakdown of a data center investment (at 2026 prices)

Source: JLL, Mizuho Securities

Finland has risen to a relatively strong position in the boom thanks to clean and affordable electricity, a cool climate, and a stable operating environment. We currently estimate that there are around 40 operating data centers of various sizes in Finland. According to the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) data window data (June 30, 2026), there are 14 data center projects in Finland where construction has started. A total of 28 projects have received an investment decision, which is about double the number of started projects. There are a total of 86 projects in the planning and preliminary assessment phases. The entire pipeline thus consists of around 130 projects, of which 66% are still without an investment decision. Even so, the started and investment-decisioned projects alone would, if implemented, be enough to roughly double the number of data centers in Finland. Furthermore, the new centers are significantly larger in capacity than the currently operating ones, so the total capacity will grow clearly faster than the number of centers. In 2025, the Finnish Data Center Association (FDCA) estimated that the expected operating capacity of data centers would grow at an annual rate of over 50% until 2027, after which growth would continue at an annual rate of around 20% until 2030. However, the calculations are based solely on final investment decisions and the estimate is about a year old, so the outcome may also be significantly higher than estimated if the investment environment remains positive.

Significant potential also comes with risks. The most key of these is the realization of AI investments falling short of estimates, which would directly reflect on data center construction. In addition, transmission grid bottlenecks, permit processes, and the tightening of electricity taxation can postpone starts or steer projects to other countries. In our view, the published project portfolio should be approached with caution in any case, as it contains a substantial number of projects still in the planning phase, and therefore the plans may not necessarily convert into started projects at the expected pace.

In addition to the sustainability of the current investment level, data center projects are typically higher-risk projects, particularly from the perspective of construction companies. As the size of data center projects increases, the size of construction contracts also grows in absolute terms, meaning that the progress of individual data center contracts can potentially have a significant impact on companies' revenue and earnings levels. Risks are also associated with the contract models of the projects. The contractual terms of data center projects typically stem from international practice, meaning that in terms of the division of responsibilities, delay penalties, and limitations of liability, the terms can deviate substantially from the balance compliant with general conditions for building contracts (YSE). At the same time, project schedules are exceptionally tight, as the commissioning of capacity is commercially critical for the client. In our view, it is precisely the combination of stricter-than-usual delay penalties and tight schedules that constitutes the most key risk of these projects for construction companies, as the financial consequences of delays can be substantial relative to the contract margin.

As a counterbalance to the stricter terms, several companies have reported that the margin potential is higher than in many lower-risk contract forms. As we noted earlier, the vast majority of a data center investment consists of things other than construction. However, construction is a critical phase for the success of the total investment, which is why we see it as strengthening the pricing power of construction companies and thus offering higher margin potential. In addition, the massive and still growing size of the projects places demands on the contractor's resources, balance sheet, and delivery reliability, which we believe narrows the pool of bidders and keeps competition more moderate than in smaller commercial premises contracts or, for example, residential construction.

Building permits do not tell the whole truth about the potential

In Statistics Finland's data, data centers are recorded under the category Transport buildings, which makes the category a useful metric for tracking the progress of data center construction. The development has been dizzying, particularly over the past year. Building permits granted for transport buildings have more than doubled over the past 12 months compared to the comparison period, year on year (situation in June, trailing 12-month sum, m³). The turnaround for the better began as early as late 2023, but the actual acceleration took place in 2025 and particularly in the first half of the current year. Because building permits typically precede actual starts by several months, strong permit development heralds growth in construction volumes for the coming quarters. On the other hand, a comparison of permit and start statistics also shows that starts have previously followed permit development relatively closely, whereas in the current data center cycle, starts have fallen clearly further behind permit issuance than before.

Share of transport buildings of all building permits, % (trailing 12-month sum, m³)

Source: Statistics Finland

Data centers have also emerged as a significant driver within construction. The share of transport buildings of total construction permits remained at the 5% level between 2015 and 2023, but with the permitting of data center projects, the share has recently risen to around a quarter. The revision vividly illustrates how rapidly data center investments have grown relative to other construction.

The development is already visible in starts as well, but clearly more subdued than permits. The share of transport buildings of construction starts remained at around the 5% level in 2015–2023. Over the past 12 months, the share has risen to an average of around 7%. In June, the share was 9% and peaked at 10% in April. The share has thus roughly doubled. However, the difference to permits is considerable.

Share of transport buildings of all building starts, % (trailing 12-month sum, m³)

Source: Statistics Finland

In our view, building permits for data center projects are applied for exceptionally early relative to the actual construction decision, as a legally binding permit is a prerequisite set by Fingrid for processing the connection agreement. Consequently, we do not expect the permit portfolio to convert into starts by anywhere near full amount; instead, we find it likely that a significant portion of the permitted projects will be postponed or left unimplemented altogether. The actual construction decision is typically made only once the project's capacity has been reserved for a customer (in operator-driven projects). Since there are more permitted projects than potential customers, and operators largely compete for the same users, we find it clear that only a portion of the projects will be launched.

Building permits granted and buildings started for transport buildings (trailing 12-month sum, million m³)

Source: Statistics Finland

The largest infrastructure and building constructors are the most significant beneficiaries of the trend

Although future data center project starts cannot be directly inferred from permit trends, the number of projects in Finland continues to grow, which supports the order books of several of our monitored companies now and in the future. Overall, we believe that the construction companies benefiting most relatively from data center construction are the stock exchange's largest building constructors (YIT, SRV) and infrastructure constructors (Kreate, YIT, GRK, NYAB). In addition, we believe the trend will have a particularly positive impact on Eltel, a service provider for electricity and telecommunications networks. Although the trend, in our view, favors specifically larger-scale construction companies and project sizes narrow the pool of competitors, competition is naturally still not avoided. In data center projects, the competitive landscape is not limited to domestic operators, as the contracts are also contested by international contractors specializing in data center construction who have followed their hyperscale clients to the Nordic countries, as well as Swedish construction companies that have operated in Finland for a long time, for example.

Breakdown of a data center construction investment (excl. equipment)

Source: Inderes

According to a study published this year by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), data center construction costs range globally between 6-18 MUSD/MW. In Europe, the cost has stabilized at a bracket of around 10-14 MUSD/MW. According to calculations relying on the FDCA's final investment decisions, the annual growth in capacity will be around 100-200 MW in 2026–2030. Based on these assumptions, the market size for data center construction in Finland would settle at around 1–2.5 BEUR on an annual basis. Finland's construction market has in recent years been around 35 BEUR, of which commercial and infrastructure construction has accounted for slightly under half. Residential construction has decreased from its peak years of nearly 9 BEUR to around 4 BEUR. We estimate that data center construction, to oversimplify somewhat, patches a significant portion of the void that the decline in residential construction has left in the construction market in recent years, even if by no means all of it. It is also noteworthy that the estimates are based on final investment decisions already made. In addition, the capacity growth estimate is from about a year ago, after which the market has remained favorable and new projects have entered the investment pipeline. With the trend remaining strong, the outcome may therefore turn out higher than the forecast bracket, especially during the next few years.

Development of the value of the Finnish construction market 2019–2024 

(Relative to the estimated construction value of the DC market in the coming years. Data center construction is expected to contribute 1-2.5 BEUR annually)

Source: Historical development RT, size of DC market JLL, Inderes

Kreate has an extensive history in data center construction and was involved as early as the first wave of investments in the early 2010s. Over the past ten years, the company has carried out more than 60 contracts for various data center projects. Based on its latest interim report, Kreate is currently building seven data centers, meaning its market share of projects under construction is quite high. Kreate has not separately announced orders for data center construction or disclosed the share of data center construction in its revenue. The company's private sector revenue grew strongly in the first half of the year. The development was partly inorganic (consolidation of KFS, acquisition of SRV Infra), although we believe organic growth was particularly supported by data center projects. In data center projects, Kreate's work performance focuses on the early stage, i.e., earthworks, foundation engineering, and site technology. We believe the company's extensive references will bring in contracts in the future as well, and because the work is weighted toward the beginning of the projects, Kreate benefits from the continuation of the investment wave earlier than, for example, building constructors.

YIT is currently building several data centers for multiple different operators around Finland. YIT's offering covers, among other things, the project development phase of the data center project, design management, construction implementation, building services installations and testing, as well as commissioning. Based on published information, the company is building projects at least for XTX Markets in Kajaani, and for Hyperco and atNorth in Kourvola. In monetary terms, according to our calculations, the exposure is the largest among the domestic peer group. Of the published contract values, Kajaani's first project was around 100 MEUR and Myllykoski's (atNorth) total contract around 300 MEUR, in addition to which the value of several projects has been left undisclosed. The undisclosed ones in euro terms include, among others, Kajaani's second and third data centers for XTX Markets as well as the new data center being built for atNorth in addition to the announced 300 MEUR contract. In the spring, YIT raised the growth targets of its contracting segments for the current strategy period. The company raised the Building segment's growth target for the strategy period to at least 4% annual growth by the end of 2029 (prev. 2%) and the Infra segment's target correspondingly to at least 10% (prev. 5%). Since the base year for the targets is 2024, the Building segment is necessitated to achieve around 8% annual growth from the 2025 outcome (649 MEUR), i.e., revenue of around 890 MEUR in 2029, whereas the Infra segment exceeded its old target level already last year and even the new target requires an annual pace of just over 5%. We interpret the raises as reflecting above all data center-driven demand, which the company sees as structural rather than a spike of individual large contracts. We see YIT as having good prerequisites to benefit from data center construction in the coming years, although the group-level impact is diluted by the high weight of residential construction, particularly Housing CEE. On the other hand, the same business structure also keeps the risk concentration related to data centers moderate. On September 24, 2026, YIT will host a capital markets review, where the company will outline, among other things, the prospects of the data center market as well as growth drivers.

SRV is currently building two data centers, to our knowledge. SRV's service offering ranges from site acquisition, zoning, and permitting processes to the management of design and procurement, construction, and commissioning. Although the number of projects is small, the significance of data center construction has, in our view, grown very substantial for the company in a short time. The LUMI AI Factory under construction in Kajaani is a project of around 54 MEUR for SRV, while the DayOne contract won in Lahti in the spring is valued at around 270 MEUR. Data center construction thus already accounts for nearly a third of SRV's order book. In the DayOne contract, construction truly kicked off only in June, and revenue recognition will accelerate in the autumn, meaning the contract explains the vast majority of the growth in business premises construction included in our forecasts for the remainder of the year and will be recognized according to the percentage of completion during 2026 and 2027. SRV's relative potential as a beneficiary of data center construction is, in our view, at the top of our monitored group. Especially if the Lahti contract succeeds, we see the company as having good opportunities to continue the construction of the area's next phase. In addition, according to management, the company is currently in negotiations regarding several new projects. In terms of timing, the tailwind from data centers comes at an opportune moment for SRV as Finland's residential construction market remains soft, and we do not expect significant support for volumes from the segment in the short term.

GRK is, to our understanding, a relatively recent entrant in data center construction, having strengthened its segment expertise and exposure through, among other things, the KSBR acquisition completed in the summer. The company previously announced that it is involved in carrying out a data center contract valued at 66 MEUR for a technology company in Finland. On the back of discussions we have had with management, we estimate that the company is involved in the construction of several data centers, although we assume the other projects are smaller in scale than the announced project. Overall, we believe that data center construction already forms a relatively significant part of GRK's current order book (Q2/26 order book 1.2 BEUR). Like Kreate, GRK's work relates to the early stage of the data center project, i.e., earthworks, foundation engineering, and site technology. Given GRK's still modest market share, we see potential for the company to increase its exposure from current levels. In addition, the Power business established by the company in 2025 offers the potential to expand its role in data center projects from earthworks to electrical connections as well.

Sitowise participates in the design of data center projects. The company's offering covers early-stage studies, zoning and permitting, infrastructure, structural and building services design, as well as EPCM-model construction management and project management as the client's representative. The only announced project is CSC's LUMI AI Factory in Kajaani, where Sitowise is responsible for building services design under a contract with the main contractor SRV. Contract values are not disclosed, which is typical on the design side, but the scale can be grasped from the fact that SRV's own target budget for the project is around 54 MEUR, and Sitowise's share covers only the building services design of the project. However, the company has stated that it is involved in several projects in addition to the LUMI AI Factory and has raised the data center market as one of its clear growth segments. In our view, data centers currently constitute a somewhat modest, albeit growing, part of the order book (Q2/26 order book 145 MEUR, +5% y/y). Unlike Kreate and GRK, Sitowise's role is not limited to the beginning of the project, but the share of design in the investment is clearly smaller than contracting, meaning the volume potential from an individual project remains moderate in exchange for lower project risk.

Tekova won its first and largest data center contract in its history last year. The company built the expansion of Nebius's data center in Mäntsälä largely during the past year. The value of the contract was around 17 MEUR at the time of signing, but the scope expanded as the project progressed and ended up being, to our understanding, over 30 MEUR. We therefore estimate that it accounted for a very significant portion of 2025 revenue. Currently, Tekova is not building any data center contracts. We believe that Tekova's potential in data center construction is constrained by the company's size and, on the other hand, the growing scale of data center projects. However, we consider it possible that Tekova could also win contracts in the future, for example, in smaller data center projects or expansion contracts corresponding to the Mäntsälä project.

LapWall has announced two roof element deliveries to data centers being built by YIT in Kajaani, neither of which has had its euro amount disclosed. The first deal was announced in August 2025 and the second in June 2026. Between the orders, LapWall productized its offering by launching a roof element product for data center construction (LapWall Premium Roof), for which it has also applied for the approvals required by foreign insurers. Breaking into data center roofing solutions is, in our view, a reference highlighting LapWall's good operational performance, as we understand that wood element construction is a fairly unfamiliar construction solution for foreign clients. We consider follow-up orders from the DC segment regarding roof elements to be likely, and the larger wall element size enabled by the company's new production line would also allow for the use of wall elements in DC projects. Due to the demanding nature of data center deliveries, we do not expect LapWall to carry out multiple data center projects simultaneously, but rather expect ongoing deliveries to be limited in principle to 1–2 projects. Consequently, we do not expect data center construction to provide a pillar of support for LapWall in the short term, even though additional high-margin business from the segment is achievable in our view.

Consti is not currently involved in data center projects, to our understanding. However, we do not rule out Consti's possibilities in the future. We believe the company has the greatest opportunities in conversion projects, where, for example, old industrial space is converted for data center use. We do not believe the company will venture into new-build data center projects. This clearly limits the company's opportunities in data center construction, as we believe the vast majority of projects will be implemented as new construction.

NYAB positions itself in data center construction in the preparatory work phase, i.e., site and earthworks, as well as connecting the facility to the power grid. The company's only named data center project is the agreement signed in February with Compute Nordic Finland regarding the Mikkeli data center campus, which covers site and infrastructure work, two 100 MW data halls, support buildings, high-voltage connections, and substation work. The total value of the project can rise to around 100 MEUR, depending on the final scope of the order. We estimate that around 10 MEUR of the contract is currently recorded in the company's order book, meaning that data center construction accounts for only about 2% of NYAB's order book of 502 MEUR. The vast majority of the project's total value of around 100 MEUR thus still awaits phased orders. In our view, NYAB's potential from the perspective of data center construction is based on the company's relevant core expertise. Energy construction, earthworks, and industrial construction all belong to NYAB's core expertise. However, to our understanding, the company does not have long-term relationships with clients, and data centers are not yet among the segments that the company names as its growth drivers. Overall, we estimate that the strongly growing market and core expertise that fits it well also offer NYAB significant opportunities in data center construction.

Eltel handles the electrical work belonging to the preparatory work for data center projects. It connects the site to electricity and telecommunications networks, but does not handle the construction or outfitting work of the data center itself. However, Eltel aims to expand into the outfitting of the data center itself, i.e., the installation of server racks as well as the maintenance and upkeep of the installed equipment. The company has won contracts for connecting sites to the power grid on a turnkey basis. All named projects are located in Finland and cover 110 kV substations and cabling used to connect the data centers to Fingrid's transmission grid. Named projects include Hyperco in Lohja (~25 MEUR), DayOne in Lahti (38 MEUR), and FCDC in Karjaa (20 MEUR), all of which run until the end of 2027. Based on published orders, we believe that data center-related projects currently account for around 10% of the company's order book (576 MEUR in Q2/26). Eltel established a unit specializing in data centers in Finland in 2025 and won its first project in Norway. Denmark and Sweden are seen as opportunities, but there is still hardly any order book in them. The projects published in Finland also account for only a moderate share of the company's order book. Eltel's potential relies on a customer base that is already clearly broader than the published projects, as the company names over a dozen data center customers ranging from real estate developers and operators to contractors specializing in data centers. In our view, this improves the probability of a continuing order flow. We also consider the ambition to get inside the data server halls noteworthy, as in the case of AI capacity, the work would be recurring in nature due to the approximately 3–4-year lifespan of GPUs. For now, however, this is merely a target. If realized, it would make data centers a clearly more interesting business for Eltel than mere power grid connection.

Enersense positions itself in data center projects, much like Eltel, in critical infrastructure outside actual construction contracting, namely substations, power lines, and telecommunications connections, as well as the recovery of waste heat from data centers. The company has raised data centers to the core of its strategy during the current year. In April, the company established a data center unit operating directly under the CEO, and in May, data centers were added to the strategy as their own customer segment. In the same context, Enersense raised its average annual growth target for the 2025–2028 strategy period to 6–7% (prev. 4–5%), which, according to the company, was contributed to by the growth of the data center market. The most recent of the named projects is an agreement announced in August, worth around 7 MEUR, for the integration work of a high-voltage substation for atNorth's FIN04 project in Kouvola, for which YIT is responsible for the overall contract. In addition, Enersense is designing and building Fingrid's Lemmensaari substation, which will connect the same project to the transmission grid by the end of 2026. In Latvia, the company is building fiber optic connections as well as medium- and low-voltage electricity distribution networks for the Salaspils mega data center, in addition to which it has previously supplied data connection solutions and district heating recovery systems to Finnish data centers. The share of announced data center orders in the company's order book of 373 MEUR (Q2/26) is quite limited for now, but according to the company, it has several data center-related projects underway in its Power and Connectivity business units. Indirectly, the data center boom also increases investments in transmission grids and substations more broadly, which hits directly at the company's core expertise. In our view, Enersense's potential in the data center market relies, like Eltel's, on electrical and telecommunications infrastructure expertise, which projects demand even after the data center is completed.

Edit: Enersense section added on 9/2/2026 at 3:08 pm EEST.