Deutsche Telekom and the unlisted retailer Schwarz Group are reportedly in advanced talks to build an AI gigafactory in Germany. This project is part of a larger European effort to compete with the US and China in the AI race by establishing major data centers.
Targeting EU Funding
- The two German giants plan to apply for a share of the $23.4 billion (~€20 billion) in EU funding earmarked for large data centers across Europe.
- The EU aims to fund three to five such facilities, each requiring an investment of $3.39 billion to $5.66 billion (€3 to €5 billion) and housing at least 100,000 AI chips for training agile AI models.
- Canadian financial investor Brookfield may join the project as a financier.
Strengthening Digital Sovereignty
The overarching goal of the initiative is to address Europe's lack of computational capacity for training large-scale AI models, which currently creates a dependency on facilities in other regions.
- Telekom's Goal: A spokesperson confirmed Telekom is interested in these projects to establish Germany’s dominance in the AI race.
- Consortium Efforts: A broader consortium, including Deutsche Telekom, SAP, Schwarz, and Ionos, had previously gathered to pursue EU funding for a major data center.
- Industry Urgency: Christine Knackfuss-Nicoli, CTO of Telekom’s T-Systems, emphasized the strong common will in Europe to establish an independent AI infrastructure now.
- Ionos Interest: Cloud provider Ionos confirmed it is in discussions with the German government and other companies regarding the EU program, viewing it as essential for Europe's AI independence.
Schwarz CEO Gerd Chrzanowski and Telekom CEO Timotheus Höttges reportedly spearheaded the initial collaboration discussions.
December 2025, Cryptoniteuae