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The technology company Microsoft is investing over three billion euros in artificial intelligence in Germany.
© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
Many companies in Germany complain about high costs, over-regulation and dilapidated infrastructure.
But the software giant sees more opportunities than risks in this country and is investing over 3 billion.
Berlin – Chancellor Olaf Scholz is not particularly spoiled by good news these weeks.
But in Microsoft's capital representative office on Thursday, the SPD politician heard a message that visibly brightened his mood: The US software giant will invest almost 3.3 billion euros in Germany by the end of 2025 to expand its data center capacities for applications in the field of artificial intelligence Massively expand intelligence (AI).
“This is a good morning for Germany,” said the Chancellor.
Measured by the size of the country, the Federal Republic is definitely the most successful export economy in the world.
Germany is not only a country that trades with the whole world and invests everywhere, but also enables investments in its own country.
In order for Microsoft to release the enormous investment sum, neither the federal government nor the two main benefiting federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse had to make any financial advance payments.
“We will not receive any subsidies and have not asked for them,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith in Berlin.
Why are investments flowing to the West?
Microsoft does not break down exactly which regions of the Federal Republic the money will be invested in over the next 22 months.
According to Microsoft Germany boss Marianne Janik, the majority of the funds will flow into the Rhenish district.
Microsoft will also set up a new cloud region in North Rhine-Westphalia.
On the one hand, the group is looking for physical proximity to major German customers such as Bayer and RWE in order to keep data transit times (latency) between the data centers and the applications as low as possible.
Various high-speed lines also run through the region, providing good connections to neighboring European countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands.
North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) viewed Microsoft's investment as a “strong signal for Germany and a great contribution to structural change in the Rhenish region”.
With this billion dollar decision, Microsoft is making a significant contribution to sustainably driving forward the transformation of the economy in North Rhine-Westphalia.
“The fact that a global player is making such an investment in North Rhine-Westphalia is a sign of trust and the result of concrete location policy.”
Tweet Olaf Scholz
Hesse will also benefit from the Microsoft investments.
The Rhine-Main region is Germany's leading location for data centers due to the large Internet node DE-CIX in Frankfurt.
The existing Microsoft cloud region Rhine/Main will be further expanded.
The Prime Minister of Hesse, Boris Rhein (CDU), said that his state is a strong and dynamic location with good conditions for the information and communications industry and one of the leading locations in Europe.
With the investment, Microsoft is also strengthening the Rhine-Main region as an innovation engine for industry and finance.
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Impact on the labor market
However, only a limited number of new jobs will be created to operate the new data centers.
However, Microsoft President Smith made a different calculation in Berlin to describe the effects of the billion-dollar investment.
On the one hand, you need a lot of people to build these data centers and develop the infrastructure.
The number of jobs required to operate the data centers is actually small.
But the actual job growth takes place elsewhere: “If AI does what it should do, then it will also help all other areas of the economy to become more innovative and globally competitive.
It will also contribute to job growth.”
Germany is well positioned in this regard.
The use of artificial intelligence in companies is an early indicator of positive economic development.
Here, Germany ranks second in Europe per capita behind Great Britain.
“One naturally expects Germany to deliver high numbers because it is the largest economy in Europe.”
According to a study published on Thursday by the D21 initiative, the majority of people in Germany participate in the digital world and can use its opportunities in a self-determined manner.
At the same time, however, the ability to keep up with digital change in the future is decreasing.
When it comes to artificial intelligence applications, people in Germany have most likely had experience with the text robot ChatGPT from Microsoft partner OpenAI.
Almost one in five respondents said they had already used ChatGPT in the first six months after its launch.
Against this background, 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.
Microsoft Germany boss Janik announced that we will cooperate in a proven network with various institutions and organizations such as the Federal Employment Agency, the employers' association and various non-governmental organizations.
dpa