Deutsche Telekom noted that the North Rhine-Westphalia region is under consideration for the AI facility
In sum – what to know:
AI Gigafactory set for 2026 start – Deutsche Telekom plans to begin building its AI data center in 2026 using Nvidia chips, with testing of AI functions already underway.
Partnerships and funding in play – DT is working with Nvidia and Brookfield and will compete in a European tender that has drawn nearly 100 applicants.
North Rhine-Westphalia site likely – Discussions are ongoing for locations with existing infrastructure approvals, though final decisions have not yet been made.
German carrier Deutsche Telekom plans to begin construction in 2026 on a large-scale AI data center as part of its push into AI infrastructure, the company’s CEO Tim Höttges told a conference call with investors.
The facility, being developed with Nvidia and investment firm Brookfield, is intended to support what the partners have described as the world’s first industrial AI cloud for European manufacturers.
“We are very much interested in building this gigabit factory. We will start building it in 2026 using Nvidia chips,” Höttges said.
Those chips, he noted, can already be used to test AI functionalities before being deployed in the gigabit factory. Deutsche Telekom also plans to compete in a European tender for AI infrastructure funding, which has drawn almost 100 applicants, according to the executive.
The executive also noted that the North Rhine-Westphalia region is under consideration for the AI facility, with talks held with Germany utility company RWE over locations that already have approvals for electricity and water. Höttges said plans could still change but underlined that building an AI data center remains a firm objective of the company.
In June, Deutsche Telekom first confirmed it was working with Nvidia to build Europe’s “first industrial AI cloud,” specifically to serve manufacturing companies in Germany and mainland Europe.
The initiative will see Deutsche Telekom deliver the data centers, including the sale and operation of their compute capacity, plus sundry security and AI solutions. Nvidia will bring the hardware and software stack, pegged at 10,000 graphics processing units (GPUs; nominally its DGX B200 systems and RTX Pro servers), plus software acceleration (CUDA-X, RTX, Omniverse) for AI development and simulation, according to previous reports.
“In the era of AI, every manufacturer needs two factories: one for making things, and one for creating the intelligence that powers them. By building Europe’s first industrial AI infrastructure, we’re enabling the region’s leading industrial companies to advance simulation-first, AI-driven manufacturing,” Jensen Huang, founder and chief executive at Nvidia, said.
