A group of major German companies, including Deutsche Telekom, SAP, web hosting provider Ionos, and the retail group Schwarz, are joining forces to pursue European Union funding for a new artificial intelligence data center in Germany, Telekom announced on Tuesday.
This initiative aligns with the EU’s broader plan to invest €20 billion in developing AI infrastructure across Europe, aiming to narrow the technological gap with the United States and China.
According to Handelsblatt, the consortium is in active discussions to establish one of the five so-called “AI gigafactories” backed by the European Commission. These state-of-the-art facilities are designed to power the development of homegrown AI models within the EU.
“The time is now to build our own independent infrastructure for AI,” said Christine Knackfuss-Nicolic, CTO of Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems unit. She emphasised that Telekom is positioning itself to take a leading role in the venture. “Europe has rarely seen such strong alignment and determination as it does today,” she added.
Despite the ambition behind the initiative, the consortium faces challenges, including securing the necessary semiconductor chips, identifying viable locations, and ensuring adequate power supply, key components for high-performance data centers.
The push is supported by Germany’s current coalition government, which earlier this year agreed to work toward ensuring that at least one of the EU’s AI centers is built on German soil.
Ionos confirmed it is engaged in discussions with both government officials and various companies about hosting an AI facility in Germany. “We view the European Commission’s effort as a significant move toward digital sovereignty, and we’re open to being part of it,” a company spokesperson said, while also noting that several details still need clarification.
The initial deadline to express interest in the EU-funded initiative is June 20, according to Handelsblatt.
