Germany Data Center Investment to Reach €23.5 Billion in 2026

Nov 3, 2026
German data center investment will rise 57% to €23.5 billion in 2026 as demand from AI and cloud services increases, but capacity remains far below projected levels in the US and China.

Germany's data center investment will rise 57% to €23.5 billion in 2026, according to Bitkom, which released the figures in a press release. About €18 billion will fund servers and storage, while €5.5 billion will go to buildings and facility infrastructure.

Total IT power capacity will reach 3,300 megawatts in 2026, up from 2,980 megawatts in 2025. AI and high performance computing account for about 670 megawatts, or 20% of current capacity. That share is forecast to reach 36% in 2030 and 55% in 2035.

Germany remains Europe's largest data center market, ahead of the UK, France and Ireland. Its capacity is projected to approach 10 gigawatts by 2035, compared with 160 gigawatts in the US and 90 gigawatts in China. Europe as a whole is forecast to reach 37 gigawatts.

German data centers and smaller IT installations will consume about 23 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2026. Consumption is forecast to increase to 35 billion to 38 billion kilowatt hours in 2030 and 56 billion to 70 billion kilowatt hours in 2035.

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