Deutsche Telekom plans to double the capacity of its Munich AI data center, increasing the number of Nvidia processors from 10,000 to 20,000. According to CEO Timotheus Höttges, announced on Monday during the TECH conference by the “Handelsblatt”, Deutsche Telekom has been operating the facility in collaboration with Nvidia since February.
However, the company’s CEO was more reserved when discussing other major data center initiatives. Regarding a planned Gigafactory in Germany, Telekom stated that it would only participate if the business model was sound. This comes as the European Union plans to promote the construction of several such Gigafactories across the continent-facilities designed to host exceptionally powerful AI centers, utilizing 100,000 or more specialized processors (GPUs).
Höttges commented sharply on the distinction, stating, “Deutsche Telekom does not need an AI Gigafactory. Germany needs an AI Gigafactory”. He further pointed out that whoever builds these massive facilities must also ensure they have sufficient demand. He dismissed the idea of a native German language model emerging from the national industry, arguing that Germany currently lacks a company that rivals giants like OpenAI or Anthropic. According to Höttges, potential demand could only come from industrial applications using proprietary production data or from government clients.
