The key facts
- Germany and Nvidia agreed on an AI partnership; the government's contribution is hundreds of millions of euros (according to Handelsblatt)
- Amazon will invest around €16 billion in Germany in 2027, a third of it in AWS data centers
- Summit commitments total €800 billion by 2028; the IMF raised its forecast for Germany's 2026 GDP growth to 1.3%
Deal between the German government and Nvidia
On the eve of the investment summit in Berlin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang spoke critically about the state of the German economy, saying it pains him to see how far the country has fallen behind, and advised Germany to 'just get to work.' Nevertheless, according to media reports (first reported by Handelsblatt), a key agreement in the field of artificial intelligence was reached during an informal conversation with Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The federal government intends to contribute a sum in the hundreds of millions of euros to the partnership. Merz and Huang emphasized that combining German engineering tradition with advanced AI technologies should strengthen Germany's economic position in the long term.
Project participants and the call to open up data
The project involving Nvidia, supported by the federal government, is expected to include about a dozen German companies, including Siemens, Audi and the Freiburg-based AI startup Black Forest Labs. Nvidia already cooperates with Siemens in Erlangen in equipment manufacturing. According to Nvidia's own figures, the company invested almost a billion dollars in Germany in 2025 and is involved in numerous German startups. Huang has repeatedly emphasized that data should be regarded as a national resource that should not be exported but used to develop 'national intelligence.' Chancellor Merz called on German companies to open up their industrial data to AI in order to keep industries, including the automotive sector, competitive, calling the preservation of the industrial base an advantage for Germany.
Amazon investments and summit results
Amazon announced at the summit plans to invest around €16 billion in Germany in 2027; a third of the funds will go toward expanding data centers of its cloud division AWS — primarily in the Frankfurt am Main region. According to Amazon, around 3,000 employees already work for AWS in Germany. In total, according to Merz, the summit, which brought together about 200 company executives, produced commitments worth around €800 billion by 2028.
Context and economic forecasts
Forecasts for the German economy have improved somewhat recently: the IMF now expects Germany's GDP to grow by 1.3% in 2026, up from the previous 0.7%. As Euronews notes, it remains unclear whether further growth will result from the investments of American tech giants. At the summit, Merz also invoked 'German virtues,' saying, among other things: 'Germans are considered hardworking, they go to bed early and get up before sunrise... On vacation, we are the first to arrive at the beach and lay out our towels before breakfast. And when we agree on delivery deadlines, we strictly adhere to them.'
