On Friday, Ionos and Hochtief submitted an expression of interest to the EU Commission for the construction and operation of an AI gigafactory. The Essen-based construction group is one of the world's leading specialists in the development and construction of data centers. It also has "extensive expertise" in the areas of planning and financing digital infrastructure. Ionos, on the other hand, has "the know-how and capacity to confidently operate highly scalable AI workloads" after more than 30 years in the digitalization and cloud infrastructure sector. The consortium is complemented by "specialized technology and security companies and renowned research and development institutions".

The cloud provider from Montabaur initially worked with Deutsche Telekom, SAP, Siemens and the Schwarz Group on such an application. The background to this is the EU's plan to fund AI gigafactories in the member states with 20 billion euros in order to catch up with the USA and China in particular. However, the five German tech companies were unable to agree on a joint approach. The fact that Nvidia and Telekom want to participate in another AI gigafactory may have contributed to the rift. This is to be built within the next nine months with a – comparatively low – capacity of at least 10,000 GPUs.

The application from Ionos and Hochtief envisages the construction of a "high-performance data center infrastructure" by 2027. The latest technology "with an initial capacity of over 50,000 GPUs, scalable to over 100,000 GPUs" will be used, according to the two interested parties. The initiative is "fully integrated into European standards for maximum resilience and independence". The project will be financed "with an industry-standard structure of equity, partnership models and debt as well as targeted funding from the EU".

Hochtief has identified the data center sector as a strategic growth market. The company, which was acquired by Spanish construction group Actividades de Construcción y Servicios (ACS) in 2010, is benefiting greatly from the rapid expansion of cloud computing and the growing spread of AI. It reports a significant order intake in this sector, both in North America via its subsidiary Turner Construction and in Europe and Australia.

With Thomas Krenn, Hochtief has founded the joint venture Yorizon, which aims to advance a cloud computing infrastructure with a network of sustainable, locally integrated data centers of the Yexio type with a focus on green IT in Europe. With the acquisition of Nexplore, a specialist in cyber security and AI systems, the Essen-based company also intends to integrate machine learning more closely into its own project management.

The EU Commission is expected to present the further phases of its selection process in the coming months before deciding on the allocation of funding. According to the new consortium, it is ready to concretize its plans "and to further shape a sovereign AI ecosystem in Europe".

(nie)