Volt Forms Dubai Joint Venture to Build 29MW Data Center with Expansion Potential to 129MW
April 23, 2026
Dutch AI data center developer Volt has announced a strategic move into the Middle East by forming a joint venture in Dubai to develop a 29MW data center, with plans to scale the site up to 129MW. The project, located at Dubai’s Silicon Oasis technology park, marks a significant step in the company’s international expansion and underscores the growing demand for AI-ready infrastructure in the region.
The joint venture, established through Volt’s Middle East subsidiary Volt UAE, partners with the Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ). The facility will span up to 60,000 square meters and be developed in two phases. The first phase delivers an initial 29MW of readily available capacity, followed by a second phase adding 100MW of committed power. An opening date has not yet been disclosed.
Volt is collaborating with Schneider Electric on the project, which will supply advanced electrical systems, power distribution, and smart data center infrastructure designed to enhance efficiency, reliability, and sustainability. According to Volt, the facility “will feature high-performance infrastructure engineered for exceptional resilience, uninterrupted operations, and long-term security under all conditions.”
H.E. Dr. Mohammed Al Zarooni, executive chairman of DIEZ, highlighted the strategic timing of the partnership. “This strategic partnership comes at a pivotal time amid rapid global shifts, reaffirming the resilience of Dubai’s economic model and its strong investment appeal in future-focused sectors,” he said. “It also reflects the value of leveraging specialized expertise in the development and operation of data centers. This step underscores the confidence of global investors in Dubai’s advanced business environment, supported by world-class digital infrastructure and agile economic policies.”
Han de Groot, CEO of Volt, described the project as more than a conventional data center. “This partnership marks a significant strategic milestone in advancing our international expansion. The Emirate of Dubai offers world-class infrastructure, positioning it as a natural hub for the next wave of digital and AI-infrastructure-driven growth,” he said. “We are seeing an unprecedented acceleration in artificial intelligence, with compute becoming a critical production factor for economies. Volt addresses this with a full-stack AI compute platform designed to support sovereign AI capabilities, enabling nations and organizations to develop, train, and deploy AI securely, and at scale. This project is therefore more than a data center: it is designed as a potential AI factory, a facility where energy is transformed into intelligence, supporting advanced AI applications and digital workloads for the region.” He added that the project is expected to add substantial long-term value to Dubai’s digital ecosystem.
The Dubai initiative is part of a broader expansion strategy for Volt, which launched last year with an initial 14MW of capacity from Switch Datacenters’ AMS4 facility in Amsterdam. The company has identified five other projects, including an 800MW ‘AI Factory’ in Rotterdam under a European Union-backed scheme, a 42MW space in Switch’s upcoming AMS5 facility, and a joint venture in Poland for 30-100MW of capacity near Warsaw, with building work due to start this year. Further afield, Volt plans to take 400MW of space at a data center currently under development in Dallas, Texas.
Source: datacenterdynamics
