Oracle is investing $1 billion (€860 million) in its Amsterdam data center. The investment, spread over five years, will expand infrastructure capacity in the Oracle Cloud Region Amsterdam to meet the rapidly growing demand for cloud and AI services in the Netherlands.
Oracle will start by further expanding its activities in Amsterdam. “We do not exclude the possibility of adding new facilities, depending on demand,” the company told the FD. The overloaded power grid could be a bottleneck in this regard. The company could not yet say whether the expansion in Amsterdam would also create more jobs.
According to Oracle, the extra capacity is needed to meet rapidly growing demand in the Netherlands. The investment represents a significant expansion of the AI infrastructure at the Amsterdam data center, which the company began operating five years ago. “The Netherlands is rapidly embracing AI and new technologies,” said Wilfred Scholman, vice president and country leader for the Netherlands.
The investment in Amsterdam follows similar announcements in the United Kingdom and Spain. Oracle announced earlier this year that it would invest $5 billion in its UK operations. Last year, the company announced a $1 billion investment in a new data center in Madrid.
Cloud market growing exponentially
With this investment, Oracle aims to support companies that make extensive use of its services, such as financial services, logistics, life sciences, and energy, in migrating workloads to the cloud. They will also receive better support in modernizing applications and leveraging new AI innovations.
The cloud offering in the Netherlands includes the commercial cloud region in Amsterdam, OCI Dedicated Region, Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer, Oracle Alloy, and multicloud capabilities. Amsterdam is one of more than fifty interconnected cloud regions for Oracle. This feature allows customers to operate according to local cloud regulations.
Sovereignty plays a role
In addition, Oracle EU Sovereign Cloud supports Dutch and European customers in the secure processing of sensitive, regulated, or strategically important data and applications. In Europe, there is growing concern about dependence on US cloud companies. More and more organizations are moving toward a sovereign cloud.
Oracle claims that it can offer European customers a cloud environment that meets the standards and requirements within our continent. “This allows them to benefit from the latest AI innovations and make the transition to the cloud in a way that complies with European standards and requirements,” says Oracle.
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