Google to invest €5.5b in German data centre expansion

• Germany seeks to attract tech investments to boost its economy and modernise the country.

Alphabet’s Google announced a major €5.5 billion ($6.41 billion) investment in Germany over the next several years to significantly expand its data centre infrastructure, the company and German government officials revealed.

Expansion details

• The investment, scheduled for the 2026–2029 period, includes a newly constructed data center in Dietzenbach near Frankfurt and an expansion of Google’s existing facility in Hanau, both in the central state of Hesse.
• Marianne Janik, Google Cloud’s Vice President for Northern Europe, said the plan will directly employ 100 people at each site, while Google’s German head, Philipp Justus, estimated the projects would secure up to 9,000 indirect jobs through economic spillover effects.
• “The economic multiplier effect of this investment will be considerable,” Justus emphasized.

Strategic significance

Germany, recently challenged by high costs and bureaucratic hurdles, has been stepping up efforts to attract tech investments to boost its economy. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil described Google’s move as a “truly important signal for Germany as a business location,” adding, “Our clear goal is to modernise our country and advance its economy.”

Klingbeil also referenced the recent $1.2 billion AI partnership between Deutsche Telekom and Nvidia, which underscores the rapid acceleration of digital infrastructure development in Germany.

Unlike some other large-scale tech investments, Klingbeil confirmed that Google will not be drawing on state subsidies for this project. However, he highlighted the German government’s creation of a large off-budget infrastructure fund now available to support modernisation initiatives, which is already drawing strong investor interest.

Germany’s central location, strong industrial base, and robust demand for cloud and AI services make it a strategic site for infrastructure expansion. Google’s announcement follows a series of major investments by global technology companies in Europe, reflecting growing competition to build out the backbone for next-generation digital services and AI applications.