The future of AI data centers in Germany and Europe: a comparison

Study AI Computing Power Will Quadruple by 2030

2025-11-12 Source: dpa 2 min Reading Time

Related Vendors

FAULHABER Drive Systems

tmts2026-ticec-banner-en-2000px (https://www.tmts.tw/en)

Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders' Association (TMBA)

Wuxi InfiMotion Technology Co., Ltd.

According to Bitkom, significantly more AI data centers will be expanded in Germany over the next few years - but not enough to catch up. Worldwide, the expansion of AI computing capacities is accelerating rapidly, with increasing investments across industries in scalable and energy-efficient infrastructures.

According to Bitkom, the performance of installed data centers in Germany will increase by 60 percent by 2030.(Picture: © Cybrain - stock.adobe.com) — According to Bitkom, the performance of installed data centers in Germany will increase by 60 percent by 2030.
(Picture: © Cybrain - stock.adobe.com)

According to a study, Germany and Europe will continue to lag far behind in the expansion of data centers, especially for artificial intelligence (AI), in the coming years.

The digital association Bitkom predicts that the capacity of all installed data centers in Germany will increase by 60 percent to more than 5,000 megawatts by 2030. However, this is only a small fraction of the capacity that countries such as the USA and China have already built up today.

According to Bitkom, data center capacities in the USA, for example, are set to more than double to 95,000 megawatts by 2030. China is also planning a significantly faster expansion. In Europe, capacities are set to increase by a total of around 70 percent to 28,000 megawatts over the same period.

According to Bitkom, the computing power used for AI in Germany will quadruple by 2030, from the current 530 megawatts to 2,020 megawatts of connected load. This would correspond to around 40 percent of the total power in data centers. This would also increase energy requirements. This year alone, it amounted to 21.3 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) - almost double that of the past ten years.

Hesse (Germany) Is Ahead in Terms of Performance

"Around two thirds of the electricity demand is accounted for by the IT infrastructure of the data centers, i.e. servers, storage and network technology," it said. The remaining third is accounted for by cooling or the uninterruptible power supply. Energy efficiency is becoming increasingly important in view of the rising demand, particularly due to AI and computer applications in the network (cloud computing).

With more than 1,100 megawatts of installed capacity, the largest data center capacities in the greater Frankfurt area are located in Hesse. The installed capacity there is set to more than double over the next few years. The region scores points above all with its connection to Europe's largest network node and an existing data center ecosystem.

However, the Berlin-Brandenburg region is also increasingly positioning itself as an important hub for data centers "with a high level of international visibility".

Nevertheless, in order to reduce the gap internationally, Germany and Europe must take countermeasures, Bitkom demanded. "The German government should therefore immediately present the announced data center strategy with concrete measures," it said.

Subscribe to the newsletter now

Don't Miss out on Our Best Content

Business E-mail

Please enter a valid mailadress.

By clicking on „Subscribe to Newsletter“ I agree to the processing and use of my data according to the consent form (please expand for details) and accept the Terms of Use. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy. The consent declaration relates, among other things, to the sending of editorial newsletters by email and to data matching for marketing purposes with selected advertising partners (e.g., LinkedIn, Google, Meta)

Date: 08.12.2025

Naturally, we always handle your personal data responsibly. Any personal data we receive from you is processed in accordance with applicable data protection legislation. For detailed information please see our privacy policy.

Consent to the use of data for promotional purposes

I hereby consent to Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG, Max-Planck-Str. 7-9, 97082 Würzburg including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG (hereafter: Vogel Communications Group) using my e-mail address to send editorial newsletters. A list of all affiliated companies can be found here

Newsletter content may include all products and services of any companies mentioned above, including for example specialist journals and books, events and fairs as well as event-related products and services, print and digital media offers and services such as additional (editorial) newsletters, raffles, lead campaigns, market research both online and offline, specialist webportals and e-learning offers. In case my personal telephone number has also been collected, it may be used for offers of aforementioned products, for services of the companies mentioned above, and market research purposes.

Additionally, my consent also includes the processing of my email address and telephone number for data matching for marketing purposes with select advertising partners such as LinkedIn, Google, and Meta. For this, Vogel Communications Group may transmit said data in hashed form to the advertising partners who then use said data to determine whether I am also a member of the mentioned advertising partner portals. Vogel Communications Group uses this feature for the purposes of re-targeting (up-selling, cross-selling, and customer loyalty), generating so-called look-alike audiences for acquisition of new customers, and as basis for exclusion for on-going advertising campaigns. Further information can be found in section “data matching for marketing purposes”.

In case I access protected data on Internet portals of Vogel Communications Group including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG, I need to provide further data in order to register for the access to such content. In return for this free access to editorial content, my data may be used in accordance with this consent for the purposes stated here. This does not apply to data matching for marketing purposes.

Right of revocation

I understand that I can revoke my consent at will. My revocation does not change the lawfulness of data processing that was conducted based on my consent leading up to my revocation. One option to declare my revocation is to use the contact form found at https://contact.vogel.de. In case I no longer wish to receive certain newsletters, I have subscribed to, I can also click on the unsubscribe link included at the end of a newsletter. Further information regarding my right of revocation and the implementation of it as well as the consequences of my revocation can be found in the data protection declaration, section editorial newsletter.