As of: February 15, 2024, 4:06 p.m
By: Amy Walker
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Vice Chair and President of Microsoft Corporation Brad Smith speaks at a press conference at Microsoft Deutschland GmbH about the company's investments in the AI sector in Germany.
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Microsoft wants to expand its artificial intelligence applications in Germany.
The Rhenish district comes into focus.
An investment worth billions is pending - without subsidies.
Berlin/Düsseldorf - The software giant Microsoft is strengthening North Rhine-Westphalia as a digital location with an investment worth billions.
After Microsoft management announced an investment of almost 3.3 billion euros in Germany on Thursday morning (February 15th) after a meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in Berlin, Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) specified the plan.
It's about data centers that will be used for cloud computing and artificial intelligence applications and will be built by the end of 2025.
Wüst named the locations Bedburg and Bergheim.
There is also another location that is yet to be announced.
Billion investment in the lignite region
The largest part of the almost 3.3 billion euros will flow into the brown coal region, which is to be converted into a technology center as part of the structural change.
A smaller part is to be invested in the Frankfurt area.
Microsoft has already acquired an area in Bergheim from RWE.
The decision in favor of the Rhenish district west of Cologne is “a huge success” for the region, which will be strengthened in the long term, said Wüst.
“This is a historic story.” The investment shows that the Rhenish district can become an international role model.
Economics Minister Mona Neubaur (Greens) spoke of “wonderful news for the region and our federal state”.
The Prime Minister said that the geographical location is favourable.
After all, major industrial customers are nearby.
The distance between the servers and the users plays a crucial role on the Internet because the data transmission times are longer or shorter.
The CDU politician also sees Microsoft's decision for the data centers as a tailwind for the local economy.
“It depends on having such infrastructure in your industrialized country.”
Microsoft also invests without subsidies
In contrast to other investments by international corporations in other technologies in Germany, according to Microsoft manager Brad Smith, no subsidies flow to the US company.
“That is not part of the equation.” Neubaur reported that the state government had helped in arranging land, for example with reports.
“The large internet nodes in Amsterdam and Frankfurt and Stockholm and Paris can be easily connected in the Rheinisches Revier location.”
It is unclear how many jobs will be created.
Smith said in Berlin that only a few people were needed to operate the centers.
However, the applications enabled by the data centers could lead to greater job growth in the economy, said the manager.
Regarding the job question, Neubaur said that she generally sees the job effects of such projects at 1,000 to 1,500.
Microsoft's investment program also includes a training and further education offensive.
Up to 1.2 million people should be familiarized with the possibilities of AI.
(dpa/wal)