Dutch data center developer Volt is working with Dell and NorthC to launch an AI cloud.

Volt claims the platform represents “the first operational step toward an AI gigafactory,” which the company hopes to develop in Rotterdam as part of the European Commission’s €20 billion ($23bn) program to build AI data centers across the continent.

The AI cloud, which Volt says will run fully on Dutch infrastructure, will go live in October 2026 and is designed for companies that want to deploy AI in sectors such as financial services, healthcare, and defense.

Initially, the cloud will operate from a NorthC data center in the Netherlands, with capacity eventually transferring to the Volt AI gigafactory when it is built.

Han de Groot, founder and CEO of Volt, said: “AI is rapidly evolving from an experimental technology into a mission-critical production factor. Organizations need not only access to computing power but also control over the infrastructure on which their AI runs. With the Dutch AI Cloud, we are building a European alternative that gives organizations that certainty.”

Users will be able to purchase AI computing power by the hour, reserve GPU capacity for a fixed monthly fee, have Volt manage their own AI infrastructure, or choose a fully customized and managed AI environment.

Adrian McDonald, president for EMEA at Dell Technologies: “Europe’s AI competitiveness will depend on infrastructure that delivers performance, control and trust. Our collaboration with Volt in the Netherlands is about building that foundation: integrated AI infrastructure for sovereign, high-performance workloads.

“As AI moves from experimentation to production, organisations need more than compute – they need platforms that bring data, networking, cooling, software and services together as one system, enabling AI to be built and scaled on infrastructure that can be governed with confidence.”

Volt announced its plans for an AI gigafactory in April. The site, a brownfield location at the Port of Rotterdam, already has a high-voltage grid connection in place and could eventually run on wind energy generated by turbines in the North Sea.

NorthC was formed in 2019 from the merger of Dutch data center firms TDCG and NLDC, originally a subsidiary of Dutch telecoms company KPN. Antin Infrastructure Partners acquired the company in December 2025 from DWS.

The company currently has more than a dozen data centers across the Netherlands, eight in Germany, and four in Switzerland, with more in development in all three markets. It was acquired by Antin Infrastructure Partners in December 2025.

Alexandra Schless, CEO of NorthC, said: “Data centers are evolving from supporting infrastructure into a strategic utility for the digital economy. AI is accelerating that development. Through this collaboration, we are making an important contribution to the digital infrastructure on which the next generation of AI will be built.”