An AI gigafactory is nothing without a customer. Neocloud Nebius will be the first major customer of the gigafactory that developer Volt plans to build in the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Construction can begin as soon as the financing is secured. The initial funding requirement is 7 billion euros.
Volt was founded in 2025 by CEO Han de Groot, who unveiled the plan for an AI gigafactory in Rotterdam in late 2024. Of the 7 billion euros, approximately 2.5 billion will go toward buildings and infrastructure. The remaining 4.5 billion is earmarked for chips and other equipment. Nebius alone will receive 100,000 of the most advanced AI chips. “There isn’t an AI factory like this anywhere else in the European Union,” said De Groot.
Nebius is leasing the computing capacity on a long-term basis. Based on such a long-term contract, investment funds and banks can finance the construction and the hardware. In this respect, the structure resembles that of AI projects in North America. According to insiders, Nebius will consume up to 200 megawatts, reports De Telegraaf. If new major customers join, the campus could expand to 600 megawatts. The initial capacity is expected to be available by late 2029 or early 2030.
Nebius is not standing still
On paper, Nebius is a Dutch company, but it has no infrastructure in the Netherlands. Elsewhere, it is already growing rapidly. The company previously struck a $17.4 billion deal with Microsoft. This was followed by a $27 billion contract with Meta. Nvidia also invested $2 billion in Nebius. Together, the companies aim to expand to more than 5 gigawatts of AI capacity by 2030. “Europe needs more large-scale AI infrastructure,” says Nebius CEO Arkady Volozh.
In addition to space and power, such infrastructure also requires firm commitments from customers, and those are in very short supply. As a digital hub, the Netherlands is exceptionally rich in computing power, but most of it is operated by hyperscalers and other foreign entities. Moreover, this is primarily general-purpose computing power: just as elsewhere in Europe, AI capacity here falls far short of the scale found in some U.S. states.
Wind power from the North Sea
According to De Groot, the Netherlands does not have a power generation problem, but rather a transmission problem. Substations are often cited as a bottleneck, and various issues arise at the different voltage levels of the grid. The factory is being built where wind power from the North Sea comes ashore. The campus will be connected to the high-voltage grid, not to the local grid serving homes and businesses. If there isn’t enough wind, contracts with other green power producers will have to fill the gap.
The project is financed entirely with private funds. The European Commission established a 20-billion-euro fund within InvestAI for AI gigafactories and now intends to support seven of them. The Netherlands did not apply; to do so, the government would have had to set aside hundreds of millions of euros or purchase computing power in advance. According to De Groot, the entire campus will generate billions of euros in annual revenue. The treasury would receive hundreds of millions of euros in additional tax revenue each year.