Nebius has signed a Letter of Intent with Volt to become the first offtaker at Volt's planned "AI Gigafactory" in Rotterdam, a campus now rated at 600MW across six buildings and carrying a first-phase investment of approximately €7 billion ($7.8bn).

The agreement, announced by the two companies, covers the purchase of capacity at the site. The "precise setup and agreements concerning the computer equipment" will be worked out at a later date, according to the companies.

Volt first announced the Rotterdam data center in April this year, then describing a facility of up to 800MW. The company has since revised the figure to a 600MW campus with six buildings.

What does the first phase include?

The first phase will develop two 100MW data centers. The €7 billion total breaks down into:

• €2.5 billion ($2.8bn) for construction
• €4.5 billion ($5bn) for compute hardware

Volt says the AI data center will combine specialized "computers, electricity, cooling, data storage, and fast connections," with customers purchasing access to that computing power via a cloud platform.

Who said what?

"We want Europe to be successful on the global stage," said Arkady Volozh, CEO of Nebius. "As we continue to build out trusted AI infrastructure around the world, we are supporting the Rotterdam AI Gigafactory and working with leading Dutch entrepreneurs to strengthen the Netherlands' independent AI capacity."

Volt's founder and CEO Han de Groot addressed the project's power requirements directly. "The concerns about electricity are justified. Our starting point is to use electricity from offshore wind farms, close to where it comes ashore in the port of Rotterdam. In doing so, we bring electricity demand to the energy source. That limits transmission inland over the overcrowded electricity grid."

Eneco will supply energy for the data center.

Where does Volt fit in Europe's gigafactory plans?

Volt launched in 2015 and leads the Dutch bid to host one of the European Union's 300MW AI gigafactories — five supercomputing clusters planned across the continent to boost European compute power.

Rotterdam, a major port city in South Holland, sits around 57km (35 miles) from Amsterdam as the crow flies.

How does this fit Nebius's expansion?

Like many neoclouds, Nebius has been rapidly seeking additional compute capacity. Earlier this month, the company signed a 50MW lease agreement with AIB Data Centers in the US.

In Europe, Nebius has capacity either operating or under development in Finland, the UK, France, Estonia, Iceland, and Spain. The Rotterdam LOI adds the Netherlands to that footprint, pending final agreements on equipment and setup.