Google to build $773 million center in Dutch hub

Google Inc., the world's largest Internet-search provider, plans to spend about 600 million euros ($773 million) over the next four years in building a data center in the Netherlands for its European operations.

"We know this area well, there is available land and there is a favorable climate for us," Francois Sterin, director of global infrastructure at Google, said at a news conference today in Eemshaven, 215 kilometers (133 miles) northwest of Amsterdam. Google will employ about 150 permanent workers once the job is completed in the area, Sterin said.

The Dutch government is trying to attract technology companies such as Google and Microsoft Corp to the industrial center, according to Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp. Eemshaven is the landfall point for a high-speed transatlantic fiber-optic cable which connects the U.S. and Europe and has about 8,000 megawatts in power available.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, already has one data center near Eemshaven and similar facilities in Belgium, Finland and Ireland. About 1,000 construction workers will build the complex and the work is scheduled to start in 2016.

Google may invest more in the area after the current facility becomes operational in 2017, Sterin said. "We have been growing very fast here and there might be a chance for more investment," he said.

The location of data centers determines which laws apply to the use and transfer of data, an issue highlighted by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden's revelations on the extent on government spying.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Pals in Eemshaven, Netherlands at fpalsbloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11bloomberg.net Mark Beech, Thomas Mulier