At the beginning of the year, Deutsche Telekom invested around one billion euros together with partner Nvidia to build an AI data center in Munich. Ferri Abolhassan, Member of the Board of Management at Deutsche Telekom and CEO of T-Systems, is already planning an expansion. In this interview with GA, Abolhassan also discusses the growth of the company’s defense business and the government’s Germany app initiative. Claudia Mahnke spoke with the executive.
It was absolutely the right move. The AI data center started as an idea that we decided on quickly, implemented quickly, and brought to market quickly—and the market responded immediately.
Well above 50 percent. We operate two different types of chips for different use cases. One category is particularly strong in virtual simulations of the real world. The other is the preferred choice for processing large-scale AI models at high speed. Demand in that area is especially strong, which is why we want to expand our capacity there with Nvidia’s latest chips.
They are more specialized. Customers can use them to simulate machines, virtually design factories, and train robots. But those projects require highly specific planning and definition on the customer side, so naturally they take a bit longer. The efficiency potential, however, is enormous.
Within the Tucherpark campus, we plan to significantly expand capacity again and install several thousand additional high-performance chips. And if demand continues at this pace, we can more than double our computing capacity through additional locations.
We knew the demand existed. But I did not expect us to reach this level of utilization within just three months and already be planning an expansion. What’s encouraging is that every part of our portfolio is seeing demand. Some customers simply want access to the specialized hardware—they are essentially renting raw computing power. Others want to deploy pretrained models built on these chips, which means they are using software services. On top of that, we offer a full-service package that combines pretrained models with a range of managed services.
Tim Höttges, CEO Deutsche Telekom AG and Ferri Abolhassan, CEO T-Systems International GmbH and Board Member Deutsche Telekom AG
That has been a perfect fit. With SAP and Siemens, we have two strong German partners with very different areas of focus. This is where the vision of Industry 4.0 is gradually becoming a reality. You have an AI factory here, and right next to it—a robotics factory. Processes are automated and controlled through robotics. That enables value creation to return to Germany because companies can once again manufacture products that moved abroad years ago due to lower labor costs elsewhere. The great thing about our AI factory is that the data remains sovereign—and so does the data processing. Everything stays in Germany.
The Ministry for Digital Affairs has commissioned a prototype of the central Germany app, which is being developed in cooperation with Telekom and SAP. The app is intended to become the central access point for public services, allowing citizens to submit applications, book appointments, and retrieve information.
There is a clear internal timeline. The prototype will be ready very soon. The Ministry for Digital Affairs, as the client, will then decide on the actual rollout. We are ambitious, but also confident that together we can develop a strong solution quickly. Together with our project partners, we will do everything we can to make that happen.
Tasks that previously involved paperwork, deadlines, and waiting times will in future be handled with just a few clicks. The concept is built around three elements. First, there will be a modular toolkit that allows municipalities and cities to build their own services. Second, the focus is on learning and reusability. If one municipality develops a dog tax registration service, every other municipality should not have to reinvent it—they can simply reuse it from the toolkit. Third, we are involving many cities and federal states early in the prototyping phase in order to test and refine usability.
Security and defense is a strategic core market for us, alongside the public sector and healthcare. We are strongly positioned in this area. Through acquisitions such as IFS and Rola, both providers of security software, we invested early on. In addition, we have many years of experience in areas such as counter-drone technology. On behalf of the police, for example, we helped secure matches during the most recent UEFA European Football Championship.
Cloud services, cybersecurity, software, and end-to-end operational support—together with Telekom, which provides the networks and security infrastructure. We bring all of these capabilities together and serve as the central point of contact for customers.
