The AI boom is causing data center capacities in Germany to grow rapidly. According to a recent study by the industry association Bitkom, installed capacity is set to rise from the current nearly 3000 megawatts to over 5000 megawatts by 2030 – an increase of around 70 percent. Growth is particularly dramatic for AI data centers: their capacity is expected to quadruple from 530 to 2020 megawatts.

The industry is investing record sums this year: 12 billion euros are flowing into IT hardware, and another 3.5 billion euros into buildings and technical infrastructure. Currently, around 2000 data centers with at least 100 kilowatts of connected load are in operation in Germany, including 100 larger facilities with more than 5 megawatts.

Nevertheless, Germany lags significantly behind in international comparison. The USA already has ten times the data center capacity that Germany plans for by 2030. Annually, the United States builds more than four times the total German capacity anew. Mega data centers specifically for AI applications, like those existing in the USA and China, are completely absent in this country.

Cloud dominates, traditional data centers shrink

The cloud is driving growth: its share of total capacity rose from 29 percent in 2019 to currently 49 percent. In contrast, traditional data centers are experiencing a decline. Edge data centers remain a niche phenomenon with 240 megawatts.

The electricity consumption of data centers is rising in parallel: 21.3 billion kilowatt-hours are expected in 2025, compared to 20 billion in the previous year and 12 billion in 2015. Two-thirds are attributable to the IT infrastructure itself, and one-third to cooling and uninterruptible power supply. The energy efficiency of individual servers is continuously improving – for standard servers by 26 percent annually between 2017 and 2022.

Frankfurt dominates, new projects in the Northeast

Regionally, computing power is highly concentrated: the greater Frankfurt area has over a third of all German capacities with a good 1100 megawatts. Bavaria (420 MW) and North Rhine-Westphalia (378 MW) follow at a considerable distance. New large-scale projects are planned not only in Frankfurt (1800 MW) but also in Brandenburg (888 MW) and possibly in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with up to 1000 megawatts.

Bitkom’s CEO Bernhard Rohleder calls for better framework conditions: “When it comes to data centers, the federal and state governments must go ‘all in’ and radically lower investment hurdles. This is where it will be decided whether Germany becomes a data colony or remains a sovereign country even in the digital age.” Specifically, the association demands faster approval processes and a stable supply of affordable electricity.

All information about the study can be found at Bitkom.

(fo)

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This article was originally published in German. It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.