From left: Brad Smith and Olaf Scholz. Image: Microsoft
The company plans to invest heavily in Germany over the next two years, significantly expanding its data centres and upskilling people to meet AI demand.
Microsoft is investing €3.2bn in Germany to double its cloud and AI infrastructure in the country over the next two years.
The deal comes less than three months after Microsoft committed £2.5bn for AI development in the UK over the next three years.
The latest investment commitment announced today (15 February) will see Microsoft significantly expand its data centre infrastructure for cloud and AI applications. It also plans to train more than 1.2m people in digital skills.
“We want to enable the German economy to benefit from AI in order to continue to expand its global leadership position in competitiveness ,” said Brad Smith, vice-chair and president of Microsoft.
“We see increasing demand for AI applications in key economic sectors 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.”
Over the next two years, the investment will see Microsoft double its cloud infrastructure in Frankfurt and at the newly planned sites in North Rhine-Westphalia. The aim is to improve Germany’s digital capacity to make it a location capable of meeting growing demand for AI services, including new AI models and services offered by the company.
This is why German chancellor Olaf Scholz said today that the investment by Microsoft is “very good news” for the country 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,” he said, originally in German. “Such projects show how attractive the location and the trust of investors in Germany is.”
Microsoft had a strong second fiscal quarter, according to its latest earnings posted last month, with a significant growth to both revenue and net income – largely thanks to its AI push.
The company is a frontrunner in the AI race, getting a significant boost from its partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI. The focus on AI helped Microsoft briefly hit the $3trn valuation and challenge Apple for the title of the most valuable company in the world.
Revenue from the company’s Intelligent Cloud division – which includes Azure – grew by 20pc to $25.9bn.
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