THE HAGUE, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Internet company Google has begun to build a new European data center in Eemshaven in the northern Dutch province of Groningen, the Dutch ministry of economic affairs announced on Tuesday.
Henk Kamp, minister of economic affairs, officially started the construction of the center, which costs 600 million euros (771 million U.S. dollars). The construction supplies work for one thousand people in the coming years. The center itself is expected to account for 150 permanent jobs in Groningen.
"This investment by Google shows that the north of the Netherlands is an attractive investment area," said Kamp. "There are well-trained technicians and construction workers available, there is a reliable energy and ICT infrastructure and there is enough space to build. The arrival of this center is good for regional employment and the economy."
The data center must accommodate tens of thousands of servers that the internet company needs to perform its services, such as the Google search engine and Google mail.
Besides the energy supply and the presence of trained ICT professionals and technicians, Google chose the Netherlands because it is on a global Internet hub, according to the Dutch government.
Eleven of the fifteen undersea digital traffic cables between the United States and Europe run through the Netherlands.
The Dutch government has been actively involved in the selection of Google for the Netherlands, with, among others, the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) and the Dutch Northern Development Agency (NOM). The center will be ready for use in early 2016.
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