TL;DR
Schwarz Group, the owner of Lidl and Kaufland, is building a €11 billion AI data center at a former coal power site near Lübbenau, Germany. The privately held retailer is using industrial capital to fund computing capacity designed for up to 100,000 GPUs, although customer demand, hardware suppliers and final deal terms remain unclear.
Schwarz Group, the owner of Lidl and Kaufland, is building a €11 billion artificial-intelligence data center near Lübbenau in Brandenburg, with planned capacity of 200 megawatts and up to 100,000 GPUs. The project is under construction without reported government subsidies, making it a major test of whether private industrial capital can expand Europe’s domestic computing infrastructure.
The development is being led through Schwarz Digits, the retail group’s technology division and parent of the STACKIT cloud platform. Figures compiled by Thorsten Meyer AI from data-center and industry publications put the commitment at €2.5 billion for construction and €8.5 billion for technology. The first module is expected to enter service by the end of 2027.
The facility is being developed on the site of a former coal-fired power station. It is designed to use electricity from lower-carbon sources and support large-scale AI workloads, although the available material does not identify the GPU models, chip suppliers or confirmed power contracts. The planned hardware count is a maximum capacity figure, not evidence that 100,000 processors have been ordered.
The investment exceeds five times Schwarz Digits’ reported annual revenue of about €1.9 billion. Its parent, however, has a much larger financial base: Schwarz Group generates roughly €175 billion in yearly revenue, employs about 575,000 people and operates across 32 countries. That scale gives the technology division access to capital and internal demand that most European cloud companies lack.
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The €500M cheque got the headlines. The €11 billion one is the story. On a dead coal plant in Brandenburg, the owner of Lidl is building a 200 MW, 100,000-GPU AI data centre — with no government subsidy at all.
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The project matters because limited access to large computing clusters has constrained European AI developers and increased their reliance on American cloud providers. If completed at its planned scale, Lübbenau could add a large pool of computing capacity operated under European law and supported by STACKIT’s existing cloud services.
Its financing also presents a different route from projects built around public incentives. The source contrasts Lübbenau with Intel’s planned Magdeburg chip factory, which had been associated with €9.9 billion in German state aid before Intel cancelled the project in July 2025. The comparison does not prove private funding is always more effective, but it shows how a large industrial balance sheet can move ahead without a prolonged subsidy agreement.
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How Schwarz Built Its Platform
Schwarz Group created Schwarz Digits in September 2023 by bringing together technology operations including STACKIT and cybersecurity company XM Cyber. STACKIT had already spent about seven years developing European cloud infrastructure, according to the source, reaching roughly 20,000 servers and 22.5 petabytes of storage.
The group’s retail operations provide more than funding. Lidl and Kaufland process over 13 billion transactions annually, creating internal demand for data storage, cybersecurity and business software. Its systems also operate under requirements associated with critical infrastructure, while cited credentials include BSI C5, ISO 27001, SOC 2 and DORA-related controls.
Ownership is another part of the strategy. Schwarz Group is privately controlled through structures connected to founder Dieter Schwarz and a foundation, rather than public shareholders. Thorsten Meyer AI argues that this arrangement permits longer investment horizons, though that interpretation remains an analytical claim rather than a demonstrated cause of the Lübbenau decision.
“The €500 million cheque got the headlines. The €11 billion one is the story.”
— Thorsten Meyer AI, in its July 16, 2026 Reality Check dispatch
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Demand and Suppliers Stay Undisclosed
Several commercial details remain unavailable. Schwarz has not identified, in the supplied material, the outside customers expected to use the facility, the GPU supplier, the purchasing schedule or how much of the planned capacity will serve the group’s own operations. It is also unclear whether all €11 billion represents contracted spending or a commitment spread across several development stages.
Claims of European technological independence also require qualification. STACKIT reportedly has a five-year exclusivity arrangement connected to the project, which could create a new concentration risk. Schwarz also uses Google Workspace for about 575,000 employees, showing that its technology operations still rely on some US services. Reported terms surrounding the Cohere–Aleph Alpha transaction remain unconfirmed, and regulatory approval was still pending in the supplied account.
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First Computing Module Due 2027
Attention will now turn to whether Schwarz Digits can complete the first Lübbenau module by late 2027 and secure enough power, processors and customers to support the investment. Confirmed hardware orders, construction milestones and anchor-client contracts would provide firmer evidence of how quickly the site can approach its proposed scale.
The broader test will be commercial. STACKIT must attract external AI and cloud workloads, not merely serve Schwarz Group, if the facility is to become shared European infrastructure. Its performance will help show whether foundation-controlled industrial companies can finance similar projects elsewhere without shifting most of the cost to taxpayers.
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Key Questions
Who is building the Lübbenau AI data center?
Schwarz Group, the owner of Lidl and Kaufland, is developing it through Schwarz Digits, which houses the STACKIT cloud business.
How much will the project cost?
The reported commitment is €11 billion: about €2.5 billion for construction and €8.5 billion for technology. The supplied material does not clarify how much has already been contracted.
How large will the facility be?
Plans call for 200 megawatts of capacity and space for up to 100,000 GPUs. That processor figure describes planned maximum capacity, not confirmed installed hardware.
Is the project receiving German subsidies?
The source reports no government subsidy for the development. The project is being financed through Schwarz Group’s private balance sheet.
When will the data center begin operating?
The first module is targeted for the end of 2027. A completion date for the entire €11 billion development has not been specified.
Source: Thorsten Meyer AI
