Microsoft will launch three new data centers in Lower Austria this August, investing one billion euros in the project. A maximum of 40 employees will be needed to operate the facilities. The company remains silent on the exact locations, computing power, and energy consumption — only confirming that the data centers will run exclusively on renewable energy and aim to significantly boost value creation in the Austrian economy.
According to Microsoft, the new infrastructure with three availability zones around Vienna will allow businesses and public institutions to store data locally and use modern cloud and AI services while complying with European data protection standards. The centers are intended to serve as a “central platform for the country’s digital sovereignty.”
U.S. tech giant to support Austria’s “digital sovereignty”
Exactly how the U.S.-based tech company’s cloud infrastructure will contribute to Austria’s digital sovereignty was not clearly answered during a joint press conference on Monday held by Microsoft Austria CEO Hermann Erlach and State Secretary Alexander Pröll (ÖVP). Nor was it explained how the company will prevent U.S. intelligence agencies — which have spied on European firms and institutions in the past — from accessing data.
In a follow-up statement to APA, Microsoft assured that the cloud infrastructure “ensures customer data remains in Europe, is subject to European law, is operated by European personnel, and that access is controlled — with encryption entirely in the hands of customers.”
Pröll emphasized the economic significance of the project for Austria: “It’s an incredible boost for digitalization and the use of artificial intelligence in Austria.” However, he also acknowledged that Europe’s dependence on the U.S. in IT and security remains significantly greater than its past reliance on Russian energy. This topic, he said, will also be part of his upcoming discussions with SAP in Germany. “But we will never be digitally autonomous — I rule that out,” Pröll added.
Helmenstein presents “fantastic figure”
Christian Helmenstein, head of the Economica Institute, quantified the economic benefit of this “fantastic cooperation”: “In terms of labor productivity, we see that AI has the potential to generate 2.24 billion additional working hours. That corresponds to 30 percent of Austria’s total working volume.” While that can’t be directly translated into growth — as it also requires more energy and capital — “that’s why 30 percent productivity-enhancing technical progress doesn’t lead to 30 percent economic growth, but 18 percent is still a fantastic number,” he said.
Wiener Netze had to build an additional switching station
For the data center in Schwechat, Wiener Netze built a dedicated 110-kilovolt switching station. “We already reliably supply several data centers in our grid area, and more will follow,” said Wiener Netze CEO Gerhard Fida. The costs of the new switching station were covered 100 percent by the client.
According to media reports, the other two Microsoft data centers are located in Vösendorf and Achau in the Mödling district.
