The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) plans to build an AI data center at its Campus North site in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. The university estimates the facility will cost €24 million ($27.2m) and support universities, government organizations, and researchers. The project will also include a system to capture waste heat from servers and feed it into the local district heating network.
“With the new data center, we’re laying the foundation for tomorrow’s research and AI applications,” said KIT’s vice-president for digitalization and sustainability, Professor Kora Kristof, in a statement. “At the same time, we use the waste heat generated to heat buildings on campus and optimize the data center's operations in line with sustainability criteria. This strengthens our digital infrastructure and drives KIT’sbdecarbonization and other sustainability efforts forward.”
The data center will be built next to a combined heat and power plant at KIT’s Campus North, with construction expected to finish by the end of 2029 and operations beginning the following year. Its IT capacity has not yet been determined, but the facility is expected to consume 2MW of power. It will be developed in phases, with the option to scale capacity to 10MW if demand remains strong.
The site’s operations will be biphasic, explained Dr. Martin Nußbaumer, a director at KIT’s Scientific Computing Center. “Our aim is to build a system that can ‘breathe’ with demand,” said Nußbaumer. “During the day, it provides more capacity for AI applications when demand for them is particularly high. At night, it uses the same infrastructure for resource-intensive simulations, for example in climate research. This helps us prevent idle capacity while also strengthening digital sovereignty through a well‑developed set of AI services that make smart use of existing resources.”
