Microsoft and Google continue to make major bets on European expansion
Google (GOOG) announced on Tuesday that it will be investing €5.5 billion (USD $6.38 billion) in infrastructure and offices in Germany, with plans to build a new data center in Dietzenbach.
The company said it would also make further investments in its data center campus in Hanau, which it opened in 2023. It did not disclose details on the size of these investments.
Google also plans to open expanded office locations in Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich.
This latest investment is part of Google’s ongoing plan to invest an average of €1.016 billion (USD $1.2 billion) annually in Europe through 2029.
The company said that its investments in Germany will support approximately 9,000 new jobs annually in the country during that time frame.
“A sovereign digital future must be built in Europe, for Europe,” Marianne Janik, VP Google Cloud EMEA North, said in a statement.
“This requires more than just offering services; it requires deep and structural investment in the local economy, creating jobs, and fostering a vibrant European technology ecosystem.”
Google also said that it is expanding its 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy (CFE) partnership with Engie in Germany through 2030.
The partnership, which was launched in 2021, is focused on strengthening Germany’s grid stability and supporting its transition to clean energy.
“Google’s multi-billion-euro investments are genuine future-proof investments: in innovation, in Artificial Intelligence, and in the climate-neutral transformation,” Lars Klingbeil, Federal Minister of Finance for Germany, said in a statement.
“These are investments for future jobs in Germany. This is exactly what we need right now.”
Meanwhile, Microsoft (MSFT) plans to invest $10 billion on an AI data center in Portugal, according to Bloomberg. It is one of its largest investments in Europe this year.
Microsoft is collaborating on the construction with Start Campus, a developer in Portugal, and Nscale, a British hyperscaler.
Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, told Reuters that by “strengthening the national AI infrastructure,” the company is “helping to position Portugal as a benchmark for the responsible and scalable development of AI in Europe.”
The US and UK signed a multi-billion transatlantic tech agreement during President Trump’s visit to Europe in September.
As part of the deal, Microsoft committed to investing $30 billion in the UK over the next four years. The commitment was in some ways a mending of the fences.
Smith had once called the UK “bad for business” after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the tech giant’s attempted takeover of video game developer Activision Blizzard in 2023.
Meanwhile, Nvidia (NVDA) committed to invest £11 billion in the UK as part of the transatlantic deal, and will provide up to 120K of its Blackwell GPUs to projects being built in the country.