Overview
- Germany hosts roughly 2,000 data centers, including about 100 large sites, with installed capacity up 9% in 2025 to nearly 3,000 megawatts, according to a new Bitkom study.
- Bitkom projects overall capacity will top 5,000 megawatts by 2030, with computing dedicated to AI rising from 530 to about 2,020 megawatts.
- The group contrasts Germany’s trajectory with far larger US build‑outs, noting the US had roughly 10 times Germany’s planned 2030 capacity already in 2024 and could reach 95,000 megawatts by 2030, while Germany lacks AI‑focused mega‑facilities.
- Data centers in Germany are estimated to use 21.3 billion kilowatt‑hours of electricity, with about two‑thirds consumed by servers, storage and networking and the rest by cooling and power infrastructure.
- Hesse’s Greater Frankfurt cluster accounts for just over a third of national capacity at around 1,100 megawatts, as Bitkom presses for faster approvals, lower investment barriers, secure low‑cost power and targeted regional planning.