Telekom doubles Munich AI factory to 20,000 Nvidia GPUs

By Marcus Bennett

Deutsche Telekom will double the GPU count at its Munich AI factory from 10,000 to 20,000. The company will spend nearly €250 million on the expansion at Tucherpark, taking the site to 20 megawatts. Deutsche Telekom calls the enlarged facility “KI-Fabrik 2.0.”

What hardware will the expansion add?

Deutsche Telekom opened the Tucherpark data centre in February. Its first phase uses 10,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs.

• Blackwell Ultra B300 accelerators will join the installed B200 units.
• RTX Pro 6000 Server Edition systems will keep running as conventional plug-in cards.
• Nvidia Vera Rubin racks will not enter the site. T-Systems chief executive Ferri Abolhassan said they do not fit in the elevator of an underground-only building.

Why is the expansion moving so fast?

Initial capacity was fully booked soon after the February opening. All installed compute was occupied after seven months, so Telekom began planning the expansion in May.

Telekom is extending an older data centre, now called Tucherpark II. The work completes the 20MW build-out at the site. The location also offers convenient transport links in Schwabing-Freimann.

How does the site cool itself?

The Tucherpark project revives a data centre first built in the 1960s. Tucherpark II occupies two floors, and the first phase did not open every room.

The site sits directly beside the Eisbach. Telekom uses the stream for cooling through heat exchangers. Its measurements found that the water temperature rose by only 0.02 degrees. The company says the centre runs entirely on renewable energy and that waste heat will eventually supply the entire surrounding district. Telekom also says the design targets the highest energy efficiency.

What does the factory do for industrial users?

The main purpose is Deutsche Telekom's Industrial AI Cloud. Named users include Siemens and Daimler Trucks.

The infrastructure supports language-model training, robotics development and simulation of complex production workflows. Digital minister Karsten Wildberger also announced plans to use chips from Dresden startup Sparxity at the site. He said the move would strengthen technological sovereignty.

What are ministers saying about the build-out?

Federal economics minister Katherina Reiche said: “Computing power is the location factor of our time.” She argued that Germany must combine decades of industrial knowledge with AI to preserve its competitiveness.

Reiche said the price per unit of computing power must fall quickly if smaller companies are to adopt AI. She asked where the model had been trained.

The first generative-AI wave focused on text and images. Reiche said the next wave will target process excellence in factories. Wildberger described Munich's decision as a commitment to finding answers and solutions rather than reasons for refusal. Both ministers and Bavarian premier Markus Söder repeatedly put user confidence at the centre of their arguments.

What could a US-style backlash change?

Reiche warned against turning legitimate public concerns into blanket resistance. She pointed to the latest US midterm elections, where data-centre expansion became a central campaign issue. In numerous US communities, voters imposed moratoria or building conditions after residents across political lines protested the facilities' heavy electricity and water use.

Reiche urged policymakers not to squander public acceptance for new large facilities. Söder called Telekom's project an example of investment without state funding. He criticised a broad fear culture and bureaucratic hurdles, and described Bavaria as a leading base for deep tech and research. He said firms face a simple choice: participate in AI or fall behind.

What changes for Industrial AI users?

The immediate change is more compute: twice the previous GPU count at an already fully booked site.

The enlarged infrastructure supports the same Industrial AI Cloud work, including language-model training, robotics development and production simulation. Siemens and Daimler Trucks are among the named users of that cloud.

What comes after Tucherpark II?

Telekom already plans Tucherpark III. Chief executive Tim Höttges gave no details on its design or scale. The first expansion stage left some rooms on the two floors undeveloped.

Why is the gigafactory decision unresolved?

Telekom still considers an EU-funded “gigafactory.” Observers expected an announcement before Monday's event. Höttges said he was disappointed with the European tender. One rule requires a gigafactory to reserve 60% of its computing capacity for the public sector. He said this creates high idle costs that investors cannot currently finance.

Höttges nevertheless said Germany needs one or several gigafactories. He added that “Deutsche Telekom does not necessarily need it.” The company would build only if it can make money, which he described as its corporate mandate. Telekom is discussing the project with investors and land providers, and would prefer to build in Bavaria. Höttges made that preference clear at the close of the event, after Söder had left.