Summary
- Principal European Data Centre Fund I has acquired the 5,500-square-metre facility at Woerden.
- Switch retains operational control and customer relationships under a new 20-year lease.
- Planned refurbishment and expansion are intended to raise IT capacity to approximately 4.2MW.
Principal Asset Management has acquired the property and infrastructure assets of Switch Datacenters AMS2 in the Netherlands, adding an operating colocation facility to its European data centre investment portfolio.
The transaction was completed through Principal European Data Centre Fund I and represents the fund’s seventh asset acquisition. The purchase price has not been disclosed.
AMS2 is a carrier-neutral facility in Woerden, approximately 40 kilometres south-east of Amsterdam. It provides around 5,500 square metres of lettable space within an established technical building.
Switch Datacenters retains responsibility for operating the site under a new 20-year lease. Its existing customer relationships, operating activities, and branding will remain with the business.
The parties intend to refurbish and expand the facility, with Switch leading work designed to increase IT capacity to approximately 4.2MW. The figure describes the proposed capacity following development, rather than a confirmed increase already in service.
Switch acquired the property from IBM in 2014 and converted the former banking and disaster recovery facility into a commercial colocation data centre.
Ownership and operating responsibilities remain separate
The transaction transfers the property and underlying infrastructure assets to a specialist investment fund while preserving the operating relationship between Switch and its customers.
Principal’s return from the investment will depend on the contractual lease and the underlying asset, while Switch continues to provide the services required by computing customers.
Those services include suitable physical accommodation, electricity distribution, cooling, connectivity, and the maintenance needed to sustain agreed operating conditions.
A long lease may provide greater visibility over the property’s income, but it does not remove the technical and commercial risks associated with operating an established data centre.
Equipment must remain reliable, the building must be maintained, and the facility’s service offering must continue to match customer requirements.
The planned refurbishment addresses the capacity and technical configuration of an existing building rather than establishing a completely new development site.
Switch’s published information describes redundant power infrastructure and indirect adiabatic cooling at AMS2. It also refers to future upgrades intended to support higher-density equipment and heat recovery arrangements.
Those proposed improvements have not all been confirmed as commissioned. Their eventual performance will depend on the installed systems, available electricity supply, and the operating loads accommodated.
Expansion depends on electrical and thermal capacity
Increasing IT load requires sufficient power delivery to the computing equipment and corresponding cooling capacity to remove the resulting heat.
Existing data centres can sometimes be upgraded through new electrical distribution, additional cooling equipment, and changes to rack configurations. However, building layout and the capacity of the incoming electricity connection can limit the scale of expansion.
AMS2’s operator has indicated an ambition to accommodate more demanding AI computing loads, including configurations requiring liquid cooling.
Such equipment can impose different requirements on coolant distribution, temperature control, monitoring, and maintenance access from those associated with conventional air-cooled racks.
The acquisition announcement identifies a targeted 4.2MW IT load, but does not specify the construction timetable or how much additional capacity will be available to customers at each stage.
Woerden’s position within the wider Amsterdam data centre market provides access to an established connectivity environment. Nevertheless, the Dutch electricity system faces significant network constraints, and existing grid arrangements must be assessed against any proposed increase in facility demand.
Principal has acquired a functioning asset rather than merely a proposed development. The next milestones concern refurbishment scope, electrical capacity, and the timing of any additional computing accommodation made available by Switch.
