Microsoft has acquired 50 hectares of land for a data center expansion in the Netherlands.

“We have 300,000 customers who want to store their data close by in a sovereign country,” said CEO of Microsoft Netherlands Joris Schoonis to Dutch news outlet NH Nieuws.

The parcel is located next to Microsoft’s AMS13/14 campus in the municipality of Hollands Kroon, Middenmeer, which is north of Amsterdam.

This existing data center received construction permission in April 2023 after a protracted permitting process amid local opposition from farmers who expressed concern about the facility’s impact on local water consumption.

Schoonis added that companies and organizations were concerned about rising tensions with Russia and wanted to store their data security in the Netherlands.

Microsoft Netherlands’ director of data centers, Nick Hengelman, added: “We want to be extra transparent and collaborate more with our neighbors. We have learned our lesson.”

According to Hengelman, Microsoft is planning a publicly accessible area around the data center that will enable it to collect rainwater for cooling purposes.

The facility also has a contract with Dutch utility Vattenfall for electricity from the Wieringermeer wind farm, which is located on a low-lying tract of land protected from flooding by dikes, otherwise known as a “polder.”

The Middenmeer campus has received a great deal of public attention this year.

On Sunday, a protest was staged at the AMS13/14 campus following revelations that the Israeli military’s surveillance agency, Unit 8200, had used Microsoft’s cloud platform, with some activists climbing on top of the facility whilst some others blocked access.

In May, three individuals in the UK were arrested as part of an investigation into a £3 million ($4m) bribery case related to an unnamed Microsoft facility in the Netherlands. The company under investigation, Blu-3, currently lists a hyperscale project in Middenmeer named “Project Nimble.”