Data Center Number of the Week

The colocation model is becoming increasingly important in Germany. Today, 50% of all national data center capacity falls into this segment. The strongest momentum comes from hyperscale cloud customers, but government agencies and enterprises are also increasingly relying on rented data center space to house their IT systems.

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Study: Rechenzentren in Deutschland

Germany’s data center market is experiencing unprecedented momentum. New projects are being announced almost weekly — many with an energy demand comparable to that of a big city. How quickly these facilities will be built remains uncertain, but the scale is enormous: taken together, the planned projects amount to 5,500 megawatts of capacity, equivalent to the output of four nuclear power plants.

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Study: Rechenzentren in Deutschland

With 1,100 megawatts of installed IT capacity, Hesse — driven by the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region — currently leads Germany by a clear margin. And this position is set to be strengthened: more than 2,300 megawatts of additional data center capacity are currently planned in the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main area.

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Study: Rechenzentren in Deutschland

Frankfurt–Rhein/Main records the lowest vacancy rate among all major data center markets in Europe: just 3%. It remains an open question whether this reflects the region’s exceptional attractiveness—or simply the fact that new capacity isn’t being built fast enough to meet demand.

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European Data Centres Figures Q2 2025

Cloud capacity is playing a major role in this growth: Over the past year, cloud installations in Germany increased by 17%, reaching 1,450 megawatts. This surge is driven primarily by multi-billion-euro investments from international tech giants – but national mid-sized cloud providers are also expanding significantly.

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Global Data Center Trends 2025

Driven by accelerating AI adoption, the leading U.S. hubs — Northern Virginia, Chicago, Atlanta and Phoenix — recorded an average year-over-year capacity increase of 43% in the first quarter of 2025 (Source CBRE). Northern Virginia expanded its position as the world’s largest data center market, while Atlanta tripled its capacity and moved into second place.

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Global Data Center Trends 2025

Despite continuous improvements in efficiency, the booming data center market is driving a further increase in the sector’s energy demand. In 2025, German data centers are expected to consume 21.3 billion kWh of electricity – more than all hydropower plants in the country produce combined.

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Study:Rechenzentren in Deutschland

Record-breaking sums are flowing into the country’s digital infrastructure: €12 billion for IT hardware and €3.3 billion for buildings and technical systems. And the momentum continues — with major new investments announced by Google and strong growth among national and regional data center and cloud providers.

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Study: Rechenzentren in Deutschland

The usability of waste heat from data centers depends heavily on the temperature of existing heating networks. While modern networks already operate at 70 °C or lower, more than three-quarters of Germany’s district heating systems were still running at 90 °C or higher in 2022, according to the German District Heating Association (AGFW).

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DC2HEAT

Measured in computing performance (GigaFLOPs) per watt, this remarkable progress reflects years of technological optimization. But many experts believe we’re approaching physical limits: future efficiency gains are expected to slow as miniaturization reaches its boundaries.

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Study: Energy Efficiency of Servers

To minimize the risk of downtime, data centers rely on redundant infrastructure systems – particularly for cooling and power supply. The N+1 redundancy model ensures that for every critical component, one additional backup unit is available. This allows operations to continue smoothly, even during maintenance or in the event of a failure.

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Bitkom study: Rechenzentren in Deutschland

These smaller IT locations – each with an installed IT capacity of less than 100 kW – are an essential part of a sovereign and resilient digital infrastructure. Operated by companies and public institutions across the country, they strengthen digital independence and local reliability within Germany’s IT landscape.

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Bitkom study: Rechenzentren in Deutschland

The EU aims to catch up in the global AI race and establish Europe as a leading AI continent. To achieve this, the expansion of AI data and computing infrastructure is set to be massively accelerated. But this ambitious goal comes with significant challenges: limited grid connection capacity, lengthy approval and construction processes, and supply bottlenecks for critical equipment and systems could all slow progress.

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EU Commission

In the US, experts estimate that by 2030, more than a quarter of data centers could run independently of the public grid. Early projects in Germany point in the same direction. But is this good news for the climate? That depends on how the power is produced. Many current concepts rely on natural gas – which weighs heavily on the carbon footprint. Looking ahead, the U.S. is even considering Small Modular Reactors (SMR). While these may offer a better climate balance, they raise new challenges around safety, costs, and long-term sustainability.

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Bloomenergy

Large data center projects contribute to climate change not only during operation but also through the construction of the buildings themselves. Concrete, in particular, has a significant climate impact: cement production accounts for around 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. There are ways to reduce this footprint, including the development of low-carbon concrete or the use of wood as a sustainable building material.

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WWF: Klimaschutz in der Beton- und Zementindustrie

Generative AI comes with enormous performance demands, and this is driving the construction of ever-larger data centers. Colossus is a prime example: with up to one million GPUs, it could reach an IT load of around 1 gigawatt. To put this in perspective: in 2024, the combined maximum IT load of all data centers in Germany was under 3 gigawatts.

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Data Center Insider

The exact numbers vary by source, but the trend is clear: The number of servers keeps growing year after year. At the same time, their performance is skyrocketing – driven by the increasing use of powerful GPUs (Graphics Processing Units). The result? A massive surge in energy and resource demands across the global data center industry..

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Paper: Server stock data

Why so much? Many facilities use evaporative cooling to reduce energy consumption. While this method improves efficiency, it significantly increases water usage. On average, EU data centers consume 0.58 liters of water per kilowatt-hour of electricity, according to mandatory reporting data.

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Facts & Figures: Data Centers in the EU

Digital infrastructure doesn’t just power our online world – it also drives employment. While the construction of hyperscale data centers often impacts national and global labor markets, it’s the small and mid-sized data center operators that play a key role in supporting regional economies.

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Bitkom study: Rechenzentren in Deutschland

Data centers tend to cluster – a phenomenon known as Data Gravity. In Germany, this is especially evident in the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main area, which has firmly established itself as the country’s top location for digital infrastructure. The capital region of Berlin/Brandenburg is a distant second among the most important locations for digital infrastructure.

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Bitkom study: Rechenzentren in Deutschland

Multi-core technology has fundamentally transformed computing over the past two decades. Since server CPUs moved beyond a single core in 2005, performance and efficiency in data centers have taken a huge leap forward. Today, server processors can feature 128 cores or more – and across Germany’s data centers, more than 160 million CPU cores are in operation. That’s massive computing power – and a sign of how fast digital infrastructure is evolving.

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Bitkom study: Rechenzentren in Deutschland

The industry is under pressure: extended permitting and construction phases are slowing down the expansion of digital infrastructure. In many cases, projects take even longer than the estimated 3.5 years. A look across the Atlantic highlights the contrast: In the U.S., Elon Musk’s Colossus data center – with an IT load of around 100 megawatts – was reportedly built in just 122 days. An extreme case, no doubt, but it shows what’s possible.

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Heise Online

The scale is staggering: in just one year, the four U.S. tech giants are expected to pour more than $320 billion into artificial intelligence and data center infrastructure.
By comparison, the European AI Champions Initiative announced a total investment of €150 billion over five years at the AI Summit in February 2025. The growing gap raises a pressing question: Can Europe keep up in the global AI and infrastructure race?

More: The Economic Times

Driven by the rapid rise of AI applications, cloud computing, and increasing digitalization across all sectors, the demand for IT infrastructure is growing fast. According to recent projections, the total installed IT load in German data centers will reach around 4,850 megawatts by 2030 – more than twice the level of 2022.

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Bitkom study: Rechenzentren in Deutschland

These emergency systems, typically used only in outages, hold enormous untapped potential. If integrated intelligently, backup diesel generators, battery systems, and even new technologies like fuel cells could help stabilize the power grid – especially as renewables increase variability in energy supply. By providing reserve capacity and balancing services, data centers could play an active role in the energy transition – not just as energy consumers, but as part of the solution.

More: BMWK Study: Stand und Entwicklung des Rechenzentrumsstandorts Deutschland

That means: for every unit of power used by IT equipment, an additional 46% is consumed for cooling, backup power, and other facility infrastructure. A lower PUE indicates higher efficiency – and in this case, Germany is ahead of the curve. By comparison, the global average PUE in 2024 was 1.56, according to research from the Uptime Institute – giving Germany a measurable lead in energy-efficient data center operation.

More:Bitkom Study

In Germany, the use of waste heat from data centers is becoming increasingly important. The potential for the heat transition is considerable – even if there are still challenges, such as connecting to suitable heating networks. The DC2HEAT research project estimates that up to 300,000 homes could be heated with data center waste heat by 2035. This would correspond to an annual saving of around 650,000 tons of greenhouse gases.

More: DC2HEAT

While Germany plays a strong role in scientific computing, dedicated AI infrastructure is still emerging. This 15% shows where we stand – and how much room there is for growth as AI becomes a central driver of digital infrastructure. By comparison, AI systems in the U.S. already account for ~50% of total capacity – a clear sign of where the journey is heading.

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Data centre study of the Berkeley Lab
Bitkom study: Data centres in Germany