The Dutch ICT sector keeps outgrowing the economy
106,000 ICT companies, 3.2% value-added growth against 1.1% for the wider economy, and 622,000 people working as ICT specialists.
Key takeaways
- —The Netherlands counted over 106,000 ICT companies in 2025, growth driven mainly by ICT service providers.
- —ICT sector value added grew 3.2% in 2024 versus 1.1% for the Dutch economy as a whole — the third consecutive year of outperformance.
- —622,000 people worked as ICT specialists across all sectors in 2024.
- —Most tech talent is employed outside the tech sector, which is where sourcing should start.
By the numbers
- ICT companies
- 106k+ICT companiesNetherlands, 2025
- ICT value-added growth
- 3.2%ICT value-added growth2024, vs 1.1% economy-wide
- ICT specialists at work
- 622kICT specialists at workAcross all sectors, 2024
For a market that is cooling on paper, Dutch tech keeps producing the opposite signal: more companies, faster growth, a larger workforce.
The structural picture
In 2025 the Netherlands passed 106,000 ICT companies, with the increase over recent years coming mostly from ICT service providers rather than product firms. In 2024 the sector's value added grew 3.2% while the whole Dutch economy grew 1.1% — the third year running that tech outgrew the average. And 622,000 people worked as ICT specialists across the economy.
The sourcing implication
That last number is the one hiring managers underuse. The majority of ICT specialists are not employed by ICT companies; they sit in banks, retailers, manufacturers, logistics operators and public bodies. A search that only maps competitors in your own category is looking at a fraction of the pool.
Why service providers matter
Growth concentrated in ICT services means a large share of senior technical talent has consultancy or agency experience: multiple stacks, multiple clients, fast onboarding. For scale-ups that need someone productive in weeks rather than quarters, that background is undervalued relative to a pure product-company CV.
“Most Dutch tech talent does not work in tech companies.”
Sources
Figures are as published by the source at the time of writing. Frontrunners commentary and interpretation are our own.