From drones in agriculture to chatbots at the service desk: our economy is becoming increasingly digital. Thanks to its excellent digital infrastructure, the Netherlands is the ‘Digital Gateway to Europe,’ a position to be proud of. This digital gateway now boasts higher growth rates and a greater economic impact than Schiphol Airport or the Port of Rotterdam. But to stay ahead, we must invest and innovate.
The digital mainport has significant positive direct and indirect effects on the Dutch economy. Tens of thousands of service providers earn their income through online services. The data center and cloud industry represent the fastest-growing sector in the Netherlands, with a growth rate of 17% over the past seven years for the Amsterdam data hub.
The excellent Dutch digital infrastructure has led to the emergence of a digital ecosystem. This is one of the main reasons why companies choose to establish their data distribution centers, data centers, cloud applications, and headquarters in the Netherlands. The DDA strives to create a favorable climate for data centers.
If the Netherlands were to lose its excellent mainport position, it would have significant direct and indirect effects on other players in the digital ecosystem. Collaboration is therefore essential. Major internet exchanges, reliable fiber-optic connections, and modern, professional data centers are what lead organizations like Netflix to decide to establish their European headquarters in Amsterdam. This synergy has a strong impact on the rest of our economy. Maintaining our strong position requires structural attention, investments, and innovation. Better representation is crucial for attracting foreign investments.
The Netherlands holds an excellent global position as a distribution hub and is a key internet hub. The data centers located in the Netherlands provide digital services not only to businesses within the country but also across the rest of Europe. With our data hub, we are sitting on a goldmine. Data centers, which directly and indirectly employ around 11,000 FTEs, are also fundamental to 109,000 jobs in the tech hub and 2.1 million jobs in the digital economy.
Media and content companies such as Netflix, Liberty Global, DAZN, DisneyPlus, Discovery Channel, and BBC choose Amsterdam and the Netherlands partly because of the excellent digital connections. The same applies to companies like Adyen, Palo Alto, Booking.com, Tesla, Oracle, and Cisco.
Many other, smaller companies, such as IT service providers, semi-public institutions, and other (digital) SMEs, benefit from the proximity of these data centers. They gain access to affordable server space with ample opportunities for rapid growth.
Everything that happens online originates from data centers. Nearly everyone uses online services throughout the day to work, learn, and relax. Alongside Denmark and the United Kingdom, the Netherlands is a leader in daily internet usage. According to European research, 87% of Dutch people aged 16-75 use the internet daily, compared to the EU average of 80%. Practically everyone—individuals and businesses alike—uses data centers every single day.
According to CBS figures, 83% of Dutch companies with more than 250 employees utilize cloud services. All the applications we use to do our work are rooted in a data center. Data centers, through their services, form the foundation of our digital economy. Sectors such as e-commerce, banking, media, and communications are highly digitized—but every sector is affected.
For the rapid growth of digitalization, data centers are essential. According to a World Economic Forum report, the Netherlands ranks among the top four countries expected to recover the fastest, thanks to its high-quality digital economy and infrastructure. After all, the future is digital.
In addition to the roughly one hundred people working directly in a single data center, depending on its size, there is a significant amount of indirect employment. Research from 2020 shows that approximately 11,000 FTEs are employed in and around Dutch data centers (both directly and indirectly). Colocation data centers are expected to grow by 46% by 2025, while hyperscale data centers are projected to grow by an impressive 165%. This growth naturally serves as a catalyst for jobs on the supplier side, such as designing, building, and maintaining data centers.
With the ever-increasing digitalization, data centers continue to grow steadily. This also means there is a rising need for skilled professionals to keep the data centers running. Recent research by Uptime Institute (2021) indicates that the sector will grow by 325,000 people by 2025, with 81,500 of those positions located in Europe. Besides the thousands of people working daily within data centers, thousands more are employed by supplier companies. Approximately 5,150 people are on the payrolls of data centers (direct employment), while around 6,000 people are employed by companies that provide products and/or services to data centers. Together, this creates a diverse ecosystem of jobs.
Primarily, these roles are technical and operational, with a huge demand for specialists in IT hardware, power supply, cooling, fire safety, and security. Additionally, a large pool of skilled workers is required for designing, constructing, and maintaining data centers. Finally, there is a layer of roles in front and back-office functions, such as marketers, account managers, legal advisors, recruiters, financial specialists, and help desk staff.
Data centers contribute €1.5 billion to the GDP and are experiencing significant growth. Compared to Schiphol Airport and the Port of Rotterdam, the Digital Mainport is growing the fastest. The expected annual growth from 2019 to 2025 is 6.5%, whereas growth for Schiphol and the Port of Rotterdam is anticipated to remain below 2%. It is the mainport of the future. Companies like ASML and ASMI, for instance, continue to experience strong growth in the Netherlands, driven by the advancing digitalization that largely takes place in data centers.
The digital economy has become the economy. Every day, we rely on digital services, and this dependence has only grown since the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the total digital footprint in the Netherlands already amounted to €460 billion, representing 60% of the Dutch GDP. And this is just the beginning.
Like our economy, our workforce is also becoming more digital every day. At the start of 2020, 2.1 million people relied on digital services for more than 50% of their work. In reality, this number is even higher. The workplace of this digitally active population is supported by data centers, which ensure the smooth operation of all digital applications.
Blijf op de hoogte van het laatste datacenter nieuws
