Around Vienna

Microsoft data centers in operation by the end of 2025

According to Microsoft, Austria offers several advantages as a location.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

Software giant Microsoft is building three data centers around Vienna. The project announced in 2020 will go into operation "in the next one to one and a half years", Microsoft Austria CEO Hermann Erlach told journalists on Tuesday. "It has taken a little longer than we originally thought," he admitted. At the time of the announcement, there was talk of a launch in 2024 and around one billion euros in investment.

Microsoft does not have an official timetable for completion. The construction times also have to do with hardware availability, but "building something like this in Austria is not exactly the easiest process", as Erlach put it. "But it's nice that the project has landed in Austria." After all, the building for the first data center is already finished, here it is just a matter of equipping it with computer hardware.

The many green energy sources, the availability of electricity, political stability, earthquake safety, but also Microsoft's strong network with partner companies in Austria speak in favor of Austria as a location, said Erlach, who speaks of "data centers" and not data centers.

Secure data storage
The capacity of the three locations roughly corresponds to the expected demand in Austria, whereby there is a lot of free data center capacity in Austria even without the new building. The aim is not so much to bring many external customers into the data center as to offer services from there.

The location also offers security to those who want to store their data in Austria. This would be of less interest to international companies, for whom European data security would be sufficient. However, this could be of interest to Austrian authorities, for example. It is also clear that restricting data storage to Austria is also associated with higher costs.