Data4 Begins Construction of Hanau Mega Campus, Its First German Data Centre Development

Data4, a European data centre operator, has launched construction of its first campus in Germany on the site of the former Großauheim military base in Hanau, near Frankfurt. The project, which covers around 25 hectares, is planned to deliver up to 180 megawatts of capacity, making it one of the largest data centre sites in Europe.

The company, which already operates ten campuses in six countries including France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Greece, has raised its projected investment in the Hanau site from €1 billion to over €2 billion. According to Data4, the development is intended to meet growing demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure in the Rhine-Main region, one of Europe’s key digital hubs.

Construction is scheduled in phases, with the first modules expected to come online by 2025 and full completion extending into the next decade. Data4 states that the campus will be powered entirely by decarbonised energy sources. Plans include a substation and potentially a combined heat and power plant, alongside measures to capture and reuse waste heat for local district heating. Materials from the demolition of former military buildings are being recycled for use in the project, reflecting the company’s sustainability strategy.

Data4 has emphasised the broader role of its facilities in supporting Europe’s digital sovereignty. “We want to transform the new campus in Hanau into one of the most powerful, sustainable and innovative data centre locations in Europe, contributing to the development of the continent’s digital future,” said Olivier Micheli, President and CEO of Data4.

Local officials anticipate the project will generate several hundred jobs over time, both during construction and through long-term operations. Comparable to Data4’s Marcoussis campus in France, which supports daily employment for up to 1,000 people, the Hanau site is expected to bring economic and technological benefits to the region.

In Poland, where Data4 operates a campus near Warsaw, demand for colocation and cloud services has grown steadily. “Our Warsaw campus is a strategic hub for connections between Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. With awareness of the benefits of professional colocation increasing, further investment in digital infrastructure is essential,” noted Adam Ponichtera, Director of Data4 Poland.

Across its network, Data4 has advanced pilot projects in sustainable operations. At Marcoussis, the company launched an initiative to convert waste heat from servers into biomass in collaboration with the Université Paris-Saclay Foundation, a model it aims to replicate in other locations.

The Hanau campus strengthens Germany’s position as a key European digital infrastructure market, while highlighting the growing importance of data centres in enabling artificial intelligence applications and cloud services. With construction now underway, the development signals Data4’s long-term commitment to expanding its footprint in one of Europe’s most competitive regions.