Microsoft will invest more than three billion euros in the next two years in the field of artificial intelligence in Germany, the president of the American company Brad Smith announced this evening, following a meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
According to Mr. Smith, Microsoft plans to invest at least 3.3 billion euros by the end of 2025 in massively expanding the capabilities of its data centers for applications in artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
The amount of investment is for the American technology company the largest it has spent in Germany in its 40 years of operation, Brad Smith explained, adding that the training program in artificial intelligence will include up to 1.2 million people.
Germany ranks second globally in the use of artificial intelligence by organizations and is the second most important developer of artificial intelligence applications in Europe, Mr. Smith noted, but stressed that it ranks only eleventh in Europe in terms of AI capabilities. The new training offerings are now expected to improve programming skills and give people the necessary skills to use this technology, he explained.
According to information transmitted by the German News Agency (dpa), the investment will mainly benefit North Rhine-Westphalia, where Microsoft wants to create a new region for its cloud business with data storage. The group is looking for physical proximity to major customers such as Bayer and RWE in order to keep data transfer times as short as possible, it said.
This is “a strong message for Germany and a major contribution to the structural changes in the Rhineland region,” said North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wust, adding that “the fact that a global player is making such an investment in North Rhine-Westphalia it is a sign of trust and the result of a specific political position”. dpa also reports that Hesse will also benefit from the investment, as the region is the top location for data centers in Germany due to the large DE-CIX internet hub in Frankfurt.
With today’s announcement, Germany now brings together the largest investment amount ever announced by Microsoft. They are followed by Great Britain, where the American company has announced an investment of 2.9 billion euros until 2026 – once more for artificial intelligence applications – and Australia, with a corresponding investment.
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