A coalition of German technology powerhouses is positioning Germany to host one of Europe's most ambitious artificial intelligence infrastructure projects to date.
Deutsche Telekom, SAP, web hosting firm Ionos, and retailer Schwarz Group (owner of Lidl) confirmed on Tuesday they are jointly seeking European Union support to build a massive AI data processing center in Germany. The consortium is in active negotiations to secure funding from the EU's €20 billion AI gigafactories initiative, which aims to establish five advanced AI data centers across Europe by the end of the year.
"The window of opportunity to create our own independent infrastructure for this is now," said Christine Knackfuss-Nicolic, Chief Technology Officer of Deutsche Telekom's T-Systems division, who emphasized that the company is seeking a leading role in the venture. "Rarely before have the signs and the common will in Europe been as strong as they are today."
The EU's gigafactories initiative, announced in February 2025 as part of the broader €200 billion InvestAI program, represents Europe's strategic response to falling behind the United States and China in AI development. Each gigafactory is expected to house approximately 100,000 cutting-edge AI chips and provide the computational power needed to train complex, large-scale AI models.
Ionos confirmed it is engaged in discussions with both government officials and various companies about the project. "In principle, we see the European Commission's initiative as an important step towards greater digital sovereignty, and we're interested in participating in it," a company spokesperson stated, while noting that several details still need clarification.
While specific details about the planned facility remain vague, the consortium members bring substantial data center expertise to the table. Deutsche Telekom operates 16 data centers with 130MW capacity, SAP runs more than 90 data centers globally (including five in Germany), and Schwarz Group's cloud division StackIT already maintains three data centers in Germany and Austria.
The initial deadline to express interest in the EU-funded initiative is June 20, according to German newspaper Handelsblatt. The project faces challenges including securing scarce AI chips and finding suitable locations with access to sufficient power infrastructure.