According to DCD, Amazon Web Services is planning a major expansion of its German data center presence with new facilities in Schöneck and Maintal near Frankfurt. The cloud giant will invest “more than €1 billion” just for the Schöneck data center alone, which will occupy a seven-hectare site in the Kilianstädten North II industrial park. Mayor Carina Wacker revealed that AWS won a competitive bidding process against 45 other companies interested in the site, with the council voting 29-0 in favor of the project on November 10. The proceeds from the deal will help the local council settle its debt and reinvest in the area, while AWS secured what the mayor called a “stroke of luck” power capacity agreement. This follows AWS’s June 2024 announcement of plans to invest $9.44 billion in its Frankfurt cloud region by 2026, though specific data center locations weren’t disclosed at that time.
Frankfurt’s data center wars heat up
Frankfurt has become Germany’s undisputed data center capital, and AWS is clearly doubling down on its position there. The company launched its Frankfurt region back in 2014 as only its second European cloud location after Dublin. Now they’re fighting to maintain that early mover advantage against growing competition. Here’s the thing: AWS wasn’t the only player eyeing that Schöneck site. Hetzner Online GmbH had proposed a data center campus there too. So this represents AWS successfully blocking a competitor while expanding its own footprint.
Why Germany, why now?
Germany represents a massive cloud market with strict data sovereignty requirements that make local infrastructure essential. AWS already hosts its European Sovereign Cloud subsidiary in Brandenburg data centers, showing their commitment to meeting German regulatory demands. But there’s another factor at play here: power capacity. In today’s constrained energy environment, securing adequate power for data centers has become incredibly challenging. The fact that Mayor Wacker specifically called out the power capacity agreement as a “stroke of luck” tells you everything about how valuable that resource has become.
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What this means for Europe’s cloud market
This massive investment signals that AWS sees continued strong growth in European cloud adoption, particularly in Germany’s enterprise market. They’re not just adding incremental capacity – they’re making billion-euro bets. And they’re doing it in established hubs rather than pioneering new locations. Basically, they’re playing to their strengths in markets where they already have scale and political relationships.
The timing is interesting too. With Europe’s economy facing headwinds, these kinds of infrastructure investments provide local economic benefits that make them politically popular. The Schöneck deal directly helps the municipality pay down debt and fund local projects. That creates goodwill at a time when big tech companies face increasing regulatory scrutiny across Europe. Smart move, really.
