German consortium in talks to build AI data centre, Handelsblatt reports

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Germany's SAP, Deutsche Telekom, web hosting firm Ionos and unlisted retailer Schwarz are vying for European Union support to build a large data processing centre for artificial intelligence, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The consortium is in intensive negotiations to build one of the five data centres, known as AI gigafactories, that the EU plans to support, the paper said, citing industry executives.

The companies did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment from Reuters.

The European Commission plans to provide $20 billion in funding to construct AI data centres to catch up with the U.S. and China.

The project, intended to enable the bloc to create its own AI models, will face challenges ranging from obtaining chips to finding suitable sites and electricity.

Under the government coalition agreement between German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives and the Social Democrats, the partners earlier this year said they aimed to have at least one such centre built in Germany.

Handelsblatt said the deadline to provide initial expressions of interest to the EU is June 20.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, editing by Friederike Heine and Thomas Seythal)