Google operates hyper-scale data centers across Europe: Fredericia in Denmark, St. Ghislain-Mons in Belgium, Hamina-Kotka in Finland, Dublin in Ireland, and Eemshaven-Groningen in the Netherlands. Now, Google is opening the second Dutch data center this week.
A digital nexus in Western Europe
Four years ago, the first data center, in Eemshaven, was opened by Google. The new Middenmeer data center is located on the Netherlands’ North Sea coast, close to Amsterdam. The new data center was designed from the outset to minimize energy consumption. Both Dutch data centers support Google services such as Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube.
Martijn Bertisen, country manager Google Netherlands, said,
“We are delighted that our datacenter in Middenmeer is now operational. We see that consumers and businesses are increasingly using online services, and this trend has even accelerated in recent times. That is why we invest in a digital infrastructure that works for everyone. Our total data center investment in the Netherlands has now reached EUR 2.5 billion, with which we also contribute to local employment and the economy.”
On average, the arrival of these data centers has supported 3,400 jobs per year between 2014 and 2019. In total, Google has now invested 2.5 billion euros in data center capacity in the Netherlands, of which 2 billion euros has been realized by 2020. In addition to the second data center in Middenmeer, the existing data center in the Eemshaven is currently being expanded.