• The Munich-based AI factory developed by Deutsche Telekom and Nvidia is officially open
• It is part of DT’s big sovereign services push
• Companies are already making use of its GPU clusters

The Industrial AI Cloud, or AI factory, announced last year by Deutsche Telekom and Nvidia and based in Munich’s Tucherpark, has officially opened its doors, though several companies such as Munich-based provider Agile Robots are already using its AI computing platform, DT announced on Wednesday.  

The AI factory, backed by a €1bn budget and built with the help of datacentre partner Polarise, houses nearly 10,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, including Nvidia DGX B200 systems and Nvidia RTX PRO Server GPUs, to deliver a level of computing power (up to 0.5 exaflops) that would allow all 450 million European Union citizens to use an AI assistant or chatbot at the same time. 

The facility has been developed on the site of an existing datacentre with an area of around 10,700 square metres as part of the ongoing revitalisation of Tucherpark, which now boasts high-performance fibre optic connections and state-of-the-art technology. 

The datacentre is powered entirely by renewable energy and in the future the waste heat will supply the entire Tucherpark district with heat. For cooling, the AI factory relies on water from the nearby Eisbach. “The Industrial AI Cloud thus fits into Deutsche Telekom’s sustainability strategy,” noted DT.

The telco also pointed out that it “operates the AI factory under strict requirements for data protection, security and availability on German soil,” which refers to the sovereign services push that DT is making and which has also been driving the development of its public cloud capabilities – see DT boasts ‘Europe’s answer to hyperscalers’.

Two of the key partners for the facility are German tech giants SAP and Siemens, with the latter collaborating with DT to offer a software suite for high-precision simulations and digital twins, enabling companies to virtually develop, test and bring their products to market much faster, saving considerable costs. 

“Together with Deutsche Telekom, we are bringing our software into a GPU-accelerated, sovereign cloud – and can thus drastically reduce our customers’ simulation times. Small and medium-sized enterprises also benefit from this. This is not a promise for the future,” noted Cedrik Neike, CEO of Digital Industries and a member of the managing board of Siemens AG. “In Munich, in one of the largest AI factories in Europe, it is already a reality. And for future AI gigafactories, Deutsche Telekom will be one of the first to test our blueprints for the datacentres of the future – in order to develop new centres even faster, more efficiently and cheaper.”

And DT’s CEO hammered home the sovereign point as he announced the AI factory’s official launch. 

“Many can talk. Deutsche Telekom acts,” stated Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom. “We are investing in AI, in Germany as a business location and in Europe. Our AI factory in Munich is the basis for innovative business models, for industry, start-ups and the government – and for sovereignty. We are proving here that Europe can do AI."

And, of course, the development has national support. 

“For the investment plan to succeed, we need… public and private investment. We have created the conditions for public investment and are now working to ensure that investments are made at speed,” stated German federal finance Minister Lars Klingbeil. “Today I was able to convince myself in an impressive way that private investments are also picking up. For me, it is particularly important that technological leadership must be at the core of Germany’s future business model. This is an important stake for the German and European AI ecosystem. Not only do innovative companies benefit from this, it also strengthens digital sovereignty.”

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV