Jurisdiction Index / Netherlands
Netherlands
JCI composite · as of · methodology v0
Netherlands scores 50.3/100 on the Compute Institute Jurisdiction Competitiveness Index (Tier 3, Contested), ranking #29 of 30 rated jurisdictions with a negative outlook, as of June 15, 2026 under methodology v0. Its strongest dimension is Capital & Ecosystem Depth at 8.5/10; its weakest is Power Availability & Deliverability at 2.8/10. 19 of 22 sub-factors are scored on E1–E2 evidence (data confidence A). The negative outlook is driven by 3 forward-looking signals (-1.11 net points, E3–E4 evidence): observed construction velocity (E3), committed capital (E3) and sovereign/anchor capital availability (E3).
Dimension breakdown
Seven dimensions, each 0–10, weighted per methodology v0. JCI = Σ(dimension × weight) × 10.
Power Availability & Deliverability
Power Cost
Speed to Build
Regulatory & AI Policy Environment
Fiscal & Incentives
Capital & Ecosystem Depth
Stability & Execution Risk
Outlook drivers — Negative (-1.11 net points)
Forward-looking E3–E4 signals. They move the outlook only — never the base score.
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Observed construction velocity -0.61 pts as of
“Thin internal-DB evidence; established hyperscale clusters exist (Microsoft/Google at Agriport A7, Hollands Kroon and Wieringermeer) demonstrating prior delivery capability, but new large-build velocity is constrained by grid and permitting. Graded honestly on limited primary throughput data.”
Source: w.media, 'Microsoft's upcoming data center in Amsterdam' (power/land use) (w.media)
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Committed capital -0.50 pts as of
“Constrained pipeline: AI-infra capital is suppressed by the hyperscale moratorium and grid queues, concentrating new financed MW in exempted clusters (Hollands Kroon/Agriport); internal-DB-fed signed-financing figures thin, graded honestly on filings vs announcements.”
Source: DataCenterDynamics, 'Dutch government halts hyperscale data centers, pending new rules' (www.datacenterdynamics.com)
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Sovereign/anchor capital availability +0.00 pts as of
“Invest-NL (the EUR 2.5bn+ national promotional institution) and EU/InvestEU facilities provide some anchor capital, but there is no dedicated sovereign DC/AI-infra vehicle; graded honestly as limited and not DC-targeted.”
Source: DLA Piper, 'Data centers in the Netherlands: a shifting landscape' (www.dlapiper.com)
Sub-factor scores and sources
Every base-scored input below carries E1–E2 evidence: a justification, an evidence-level grade, and a link to the underlying source document.
Power Availability & Deliverability — 2.8/10 (weight 20%)
|
Sub-factor
|
Score
|
Justification
|
Evidence
|
Source
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grid headroom 40% of dimension | 2 /10 | Severe netcongestie: TenneT's offtake waiting list holds 212 requests totaling 38 GW against current peak demand of ~19 GW (rising to ~27 GW by 2030); high-voltage grid in large parts of Zuid-Holland and Noord-Holland declared at maximum capacity for large consumers (>3x80A), wit... as of | Stibbe, 'Parliamentary letter on grid congestion: eight measures' (2025) www.stibbe.com | |
| Time-to-power 35% of dimension | 1 /10 | TenneT states there will be no extra grid space for large electricity consumers (companies, data centres) in much of Noord-Holland for at least the next 10 years; grid operators warn of connection wait times up to 10 years, far beyond the >6yr/moratorium anchor (=0-1). as of | TenneT news, 'No extra space on electricity grid in large part of Noord-Holland next decade' (2025) www.tennet.eu | |
| Energy mix & expandability 15% of dimension | 5.5 /10 | Strong renewable buildout potential (4.7 GW offshore wind operational, 21 GW 2030 target) but expansion is grid-bottlenecked, not generation-bottlenecked; TenneT's queue holds ~60 GW of battery storage vs ~20 GW peak load, and gas phase-down adds firming risk. as of | NedZero 'Facts about offshore wind' / ESS-News Dutch grid (2025) nedzero.nl | |
| Water availability 10% of dimension | 8.5 /10 | Low water stress: as a North Sea delta the Netherlands sits well below the 25% SDG 6.4.2 stress threshold (Europe regional average ~12.3% per FAO AQUASTAT 2022), with abundant surface water for cooling; localized water quality, not quantity, is the operative concern. as of | World Bank, Level of water stress (ER.H2O.FWST.ZS), Netherlands, 1980-2022 data.worldbank.org |
Power Cost — 3.2/10 (weight 12.5%)
|
Sub-factor
|
Score
|
Justification
|
Evidence
|
Source
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial electricity price 60% of dimension | 2 /10 | High by absolute anchor: Dutch non-household electricity averaged 20.46 c/kWh (~EUR 205/MWh, ~$220/MWh) in H1 2025 for the 500-2,000 MWh band; even very-large consumers face well above the $140/MWh '0' anchor before grid-fee relief, among the EU's costlier markets. as of | Eurostat NRG_PC_205 via Statista, NL non-household electricity H1 2025 www.statista.com | |
| Price trajectory & exposure 25% of dimension | 4 /10 | Elevated forward exposure: high EU ETS carbon pricing plus gas-set marginal pricing and rising grid tariffs; TenneT introduced off-peak tariff cuts up to 65% (Apr 2025) to manage congestion, signaling structurally high and volatile network costs. as of | Stibbe, 'Parliamentary letter on grid congestion: eight measures' (2025) www.stibbe.com | |
| Cost certainty / contractability 15% of dimension | 6.5 /10 | Deep corporate PPA market anchored on North Sea offshore wind (Google, Shell/Eneco and others have signed Dutch offshore-wind PPAs/concessions, e.g. the 760 MW Hollandse Kust West concession), providing strong long-term price-hedging despite high spot prices. as of | S&P Global Commodity Insights, 'Shell, Eneco awarded 760 MW Dutch offshore wind concession' (Dec 2022) www.spglobal.com |
Speed to Build — 3.7/10 (weight 17.5%)
|
Sub-factor
|
Score
|
Justification
|
Evidence
|
Source
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permitting regime 40% of dimension | 2.5 /10 | Nitrogen (stikstof) permitting crisis: after the 2019 Council of State PAS ruling, the construction exemption was annulled on 2 Nov 2022, and Dec 2024 rulings require permits even for internal offsetting, leaving many construction/nature permits frozen or multi-year, well past th... as of | NautaDutilh, 'The construction exemption annulled: next steps' (2022-2024) www.nautadutilh.com | |
| Observed construction velocity 35% of dimension | — | Excluded — no E1–E2 evidence available; weaker evidence cannot enter a base score. | — | — |
| Labor & supply capacity 25% of dimension | 5.5 /10 | EU single-market EPC depth, but acute labor scarcity: over 80% of Dutch construction businesses reported staff shortages and more than 32% were limiting production to available workforce (CBS Business Survey, April 2025) — the worst of any Dutch sector, tightening high-voltage an... as of | CBS, 'Two-thirds of businesses are struggling with staff shortages' (May 2025) www.cbs.nl |
Regulatory & AI Policy Environment — 5.2/10 (weight 12.5%)
|
Sub-factor
|
Score
|
Justification
|
Evidence
|
Source
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI-specific law in force 35% of dimension | 5 /10 | EU AI Act in force since 1 Aug 2024 (directly applicable in NL); prohibited-practices banned from 2 Feb 2025 and GPAI obligations live 2 Aug 2025, with high-risk Annex III duties phasing 2026-2028 — an enacted, underwriteable but moderately restrictive horizontal regime. as of | European Commission, AI Act regulatory framework (in force 2024-08-01) digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu | |
| DC-specific regulation 35% of dimension | 2.5 /10 | Genuinely restrictive DC-specific regime: Feb 2022 nationwide moratorium on hyperscale sites (>10 ha / >70 MW), then a June 2022 policy barring municipalities from zoning hyperscale DCs except limited exempted areas (Hollands Kroon/Agriport, Het Hogeland), plus Amsterdam/Haarlemm... as of | CMS Law-Now, 'Netherlands prohibits creating hyperscale data centres until national guidelines passed' (Nov 2022) cms-lawnow.com | |
| Regulatory predictability 30% of dimension | 8.5 /10 | Very high institutional quality: World Bank WGI Regulatory Quality estimate 1.72 (2024) and Rule of Law ~1.79 (2023) on a -2.5/+2.5 scale (world avg ~0), placing NL in roughly the 93rd-95th global percentile; deep independent regulators (ACM) and courts. as of | World Bank WGI via TheGlobalEconomy, NL Regulatory Quality 2024 www.theglobaleconomy.com |
Fiscal & Incentives — 4.7/10 (weight 10%)
|
Sub-factor
|
Score
|
Justification
|
Evidence
|
Source
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enacted incentives 40% of dimension | 3.5 /10 | No material DC-specific tax incentives; the innovation box (effective 9% on qualifying IP income) targets R&D/IP, not data-centre capex, and Pillar Two further blunts incentive value for in-scope hyperscalers. Graded honestly as thin for DC. as of | EY, 'Netherlands budget proposals; key legislative developments for 2025' www.ey.com | |
| Headline tax burden 40% of dimension | 5 /10 | Headline CIT 25.8% on profits above EUR 200,000 (19% below) for 2025 — mid-to-high among DC hubs; Pillar Two minimum-tax act in force since 1 Jan 2024 limits incentive-based rate reduction for large (>EUR 750m) groups. as of | PwC Tax Summaries, Netherlands Corporate Taxes on Income (2025) taxsummaries.pwc.com | |
| Incentive durability 20% of dimension | 6.5 /10 | What incentives exist (innovation box, R&D WBSO) are statutorily stable and administered by a high-quality tax authority, but the overall stance toward large DCs is restrictive rather than incentive-led, capping durability upside for the asset class. as of | Norton Rose Fulbright, 'The 2026 Dutch tax plan' www.nortonrosefulbright.com |
Capital & Ecosystem Depth — 8.5/10 (weight 12.5%)
|
Sub-factor
|
Score
|
Justification
|
Evidence
|
Source
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Committed capital 40% of dimension | — | Excluded — no E1–E2 evidence available; weaker evidence cannot enter a base score. | — | — |
| Ecosystem 30% of dimension | 8.5 /10 | World-class digital ecosystem: AMS-IX is one of the largest internet exchanges globally (63.76 Tb/s capacity, 14 Tb/s peak, 1,227 connected parties across 70 countries in 2024), with dense subsea fiber landings, large installed DC stock and full hyperscaler presence — the constra... as of | AMS-IX Annual Report 2024 / Facts & Figures www.ams-ix.net | |
| Sovereign/anchor capital availability 30% of dimension | — | Excluded — no E1–E2 evidence available; weaker evidence cannot enter a base score. | — | — |
Stability & Execution Risk — 8.3/10 (weight 15%)
|
Sub-factor
|
Score
|
Justification
|
Evidence
|
Source
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Political/policy continuity 40% of dimension | 7.5 /10 | Very high government effectiveness (WGI 1.75, 2024) and strong rule of law, though the Schoof coalition collapsed in June 2025 with snap elections on 29 Oct 2025 introducing near-term policy uncertainty (notably on nitrogen/migration); structural institutional continuity remains... as of | World Bank WGI via TheGlobalEconomy, NL Government Effectiveness 2024 www.theglobaleconomy.com | |
| Currency, transfer & convertibility 35% of dimension | 9.5 /10 | Euro member with no capital or transfer controls; the Kingdom of the Netherlands holds AAA/Stable from S&P, Fitch, Moody's, Scope and Morningstar DBRS (DBRS reaffirmed AAA Stable Feb 2025), giving best-in-class convertibility and transfer certainty. as of | Morningstar DBRS, 'Confirms Kingdom of the Netherlands at AAA Stable' (Feb 2025) dbrs.morningstar.com | |
| Physical & geopolitical risk 25% of dimension | 8 /10 | Low physical/geopolitical risk: stable EU/NATO member with high WGI Political Stability; principal exposure is North Sea subsea-cable/pipeline security, an actively monitored but managed risk rather than an operational threat to AMS-region facilities. as of | Scope Ratings, 'Scope affirms the Netherlands' credit ratings at AAA' scoperatings.com |
Signals
Recent ingested source documents linked to this jurisdiction via extracted claims or triage mentions, newest first.
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scoperatings.com · relevance 0.00
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dbrs.morningstar.com · relevance 0.00
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cms-lawnow.com · relevance 0.70
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www.theglobaleconomy.com · relevance 0.00
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www.ams-ix.net · relevance 0.10
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www.dlapiper.com · relevance 0.50
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www.datacenterdynamics.com · relevance 0.75
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www.nortonrosefulbright.com · relevance 0.00
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www.ey.com · relevance 0.00
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taxsummaries.pwc.com · relevance 0.00
Scores are reproducible from the frozen inputs snapshot recorded at computation time (2026-06-15T23:52:40+00:00). See the full methodology for rubrics, weights, and the evidence ladder.