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Olaf Scholz at Microsoft in Berlin: “Very good news for Germany as a business location”
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Liesa Johannssen / REUTERS
Microsoft plans to invest almost 3.3 billion euros in Germany over the next two years to massively expand its data center capacities for applications in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing. Microsoft President Brad Smith announced this on Thursday in Berlin during a conversation with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
The largest single investment in Microsoft's 40-year history in Germany also includes an AI training program intended to reach up to 1.2 million people. The goals include building up AI knowledge and supporting AI transformation in companies. This also includes the first professional certificate for generative AI.
The investment funds will flow primarily to North Rhine-Westphalia, where Microsoft wants to set up a new cloud region. The group is looking for physical proximity to major customers such as Bayer and RWE in order to keep data transit times (latency) between the data centers and the applications as low as possible. Hesse will also benefit from the Microsoft investments. The Rhine/Main region is Germany's leading location for data centers due to the large Internet node DE-CIX in Frankfurt. The existing Microsoft cloud region Rhine/Main will be further expanded.
Scholz emphasizes structural change in the Rhenish region
Smith said: “We are seeing increasing demand for AI applications in key industries such as manufacturing, automotive, financial services, pharmaceuticals, life sciences and medical technology. Because these industries are fundamentally changing due to economic change, it is important to equip companies in Germany with world-leading technology." For Olaf Scholz, the announcement is "very good news for Germany as a business location. Microsoft is thus promoting the necessary structural change in the Rhineland region, advancing the computing infrastructure in our country and strengthening the German ecosystem around artificial intelligence. Such projects show how attractive the location and the trust of investors in Germany is.«
With a total investment of 3.5 billion US dollars (3.26 billion euros), Germany leads the list of investment announcements by the world's leading software company. Microsoft President Smith pledged last November to invest £2.5 billion (€2.9 billion) in the UK by 2026 to drive the growth of AI applications. Just over a month earlier, during a visit to Australia, he had promised an investment of five billion Australian dollars (around three billion euros) in the AI sector.
Microsoft is a leading player in the international AI market, also because the software company invested several billion dollars early on to invest in the Californian AI start-up OpenAI. Microsoft uses its AI technology, among other things, in its search engine Bing and as a “copilot” in its Office programs. The main competitor is currently Google with its AI model Gemini.
pbe/dpa