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By Matthew Broersma
Google is to spend 600m euros (£471m) over the next four years to build an enormous data center in the Netherlands for its European business.
The search engine already uses a 20-megawatt data center near Eemshaven, 133 miles northwest of Amsterdam, which is the landfall point for a high-speed transatlantic fiber-optic cable linking the U.S. and Europe.
120 megawatts
The new site, set to begin operations in 2017, will be a 120-megawatt facility employing about 150 permanent staff, Google said at an event in Eemshaven on Tuesday.
Google already has similar facilities in Belgium, Finland and Ireland. Construction of the new data center is to begin in 2016, Google said, adding it may invest further in the region as its growth continues.
The Dutch government has made efforts to attract IT investment to the area, and Apple has reportedly considered locating a new data center in the Eemshaven area. Microsoft is currently building a large data facility in Middenmeer, in the province of Noord-Holland.
Earlier this year Google contracted Swedish renewable energy expert Eolus to build four wind farms to power its data center in Hamina, Finland.