HELSINKI: Google has acquired a 27-million-euro (28.5 million U.S. dollars) land parcel in Finland to expand its data center operations, the Finnish government announced on Thursday.

Metsahallitus, Finland's state forest property administrator, has been authorized to sell approximately 1,400 hectares of land near Kajaani, a northeastern town that serves as a key hub for data center activities. The government noted in its press release that land transactions of this size are rare in Finland.

Google has been operating data centers in Finland since 2011, with its campus in Hamina currently employing around 400 full-time staff, according to the release.

In Finland, Google built its first data center in Hamina, a city located approximately 145 km east of the country's capital Helsinki, in 2009.

In May this year, the U.S. tech giant announced a new 1-billion-euro investment to expand its Hamina campus, which is expected to create more jobs in the next two years, according to local media reports. (1 euro = 1.06 U.S. dollar).