The EU Commission wants to catch up in the development of artificial intelligence with AI Gigafactories. The German federal government wants at least one of the five planned super data centres to be built in Germany.
eco and the Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, which was founded under the umbrella of the association, support this plan. However, the association and data centre operators warn of bureaucratic hurdles. The first hurdle is the question of responsibility. For example, it is currently not even clear which federal ministry oversees AI and data centres.
In the view of the industry association, only the newly created Ministry of Digitalisation can be considered for this. “Artificial intelligence and data centres must be considered together, one cannot work without the other,” says Dr Béla Waldhauser, spokesperson for the Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany. “We now finally have a Ministry of Digitalisation and our expectation is quite clear that we will also have a central point of contact in politics who will create the right framework conditions for Germany as a digital location. In our view, AI as a key technology and data centres as the backbone of digital transformation are clearly part of this,” Waldhauser continued.
“Germany must not trip itself up in digital policy and fragment responsibilities across different ministries right at the start of the new legislative term. As the AI Gigafactory is set to become an important building block for Germany as a digital and business location, the German federal government should involve the Ministry of Digitalisation, which is responsible for data centres and AI, in the coordination process,” demands Waldhauser.
Additional hurdles include ensuring sufficient capacity in the electricity grid. The shortage of skilled labour is also a growing problem for the industry.
AI study: €250 billion gross added value by data centres
In principle, the association and the eco Association welcome the initiative to bring sufficient computing power for AI to Germany and thus promote the development of artificial intelligence.
A joint study by the German Economic Institute (IW), the eco Association, and the Alliance also shows the positive impact of data centres and AI on the German economy. In a survey of around 500 companies in Germany, taking into account the indirect effects on other companies, the authors of the study found that the use of data centres generated additional gross value added of around €250 billion for the German economy last year. In 2024, around 5.9 million people were also dependent on the ecosystem of digital infrastructures.
“The German economy benefits enormously from the use of data centres,” Waldhauser continued. “If we want to attract one of these super data centres to us and take a leading role in AI in Europe, the German federal government needs to start sprinting.”
