Google opened an AI centre Berlin on Thursday, pledging to step up innovation in the German capital, which boasts a dynamic start-up scene and strong academic and research institutions.<\/p>\n
German politicians hailed the move despite growing fears Europe is overly reliant on US tech giants that its own corporate players are struggling to match, particularly in artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
Google — a major AI player alongside US firms such as Anthropic, OpenAI and Microsoft — announced a 5.5 billion euro ($6.4 billion) investment drive in Germany last November.<\/p>\n
“We have a whole range of outstanding researchers who are working on AI here in Berlin,” said Philipp Justus, Google’s country manager for Germany and VP Central Europe.<\/p>\n
“This centre is intended to enable exchange with the academic community, with policymakers, and ultimately also with companies that are driving forward the application of AI.”<\/p>\n
In an expansion of its Berlin site, Google added an “AI demo space” for new innovations, a separate floor for research teams and an area where AI-focused events will be held.<\/p>\n
Berlin mayor Kai Wegner said the move “underscores Berlin’s international significance as a science and technology hub — with a dynamic start-up scene, strong universities and an open society that enables and promotes innovation”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Karsten Wildberger, minister for digital transformation, stressed that “digital sovereignty is extremely important for Germany and Europe”.<\/p>\n
“But that does not mean doing everything alone,” he said. “We continue to work in equal partnerships.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
He added that it was “important that we become much more active in developing things under our own steam”, listing key areas that included IT infrastructure and cloud computing.<\/p>\n
– Battle for ‘digital sovereignty’ –<\/p>\n
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition has signalled it wants to make progress on the AI front as part of efforts to revive the struggling economy.<\/p>\n
There have been a flurry of announcements related to AI recently, including from Deutsche Telekom and software company SAP.<\/p>\n
But a good number of investments still come from the United States, fuelling worries at a time of strained ties under the administration of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
“Digital sovereignty” has been the goal, with the aim of ensuring that Europeans’ data is stored at home and protected under local laws, and reducing a heavy reliance on overseas players in the digital domain.<\/p>\n
At a summit dedicated to the topic in November in Berlin, Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron backed the idea of favouring European firms in a bid to develop regional champions.<\/p>\n
Despite its ambitions, Germany still faces “enormous” challenges to build up AI infrastructure and data storage capacities, said Janis Hecker of the digital business association Bitkom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The government still “underestimates the importance of these technologies for value creation, but also for sovereignty and the defence of our values”, he said.<\/p>\n
The United States builds more computing capacity each year than Germany has in total, the group says.<\/p>\n
According to its calculations, only one-thousandth of Germany’s proposed central government budget for 2026 is dedicated to AI, and only a fraction of a massive pot of funding to modernise the country’s infrastructure is dedicated to cutting-edge technologies.<\/p>\n
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