Data Centers in Germany and the Politics of Trust

Germans saw different versions of the same investment

Researchers at Georgetown University examined how citizens feel about the construction of data centers in Germany. They conducted 2 survey experiments. In one of them, some respondents received information emphasizing the benefits associated with Germany’s digital sovereignty, and therefore Europe’s as well. In the second study, respondents compared hypothetical data center projects that differed by operator, energy source, effect on prices, and number of jobs created, among other factors.

The results showed that support for such investments is not unconditional. It depends heavily on the details of a specific project. Presenting the benefits of digital sovereignty increased support only slightly. Arguments about data protection or strengthening Germany’s technological competitiveness did little to change respondents’ views.

Something far more tangible had the greatest effect on how people judged the project.

China and the United States under suspicion

As the article published in the scientific journal Nature Communications explains, one of the strongest factors turned out to be who would operate the data center.

When a German or European company ran the center, respondents rated the project much more positively than when an American or Chinese entity stood behind the investment.

Support for companies from the United States fell by around 18–20 percentage points, while companies from China recorded a 26-point drop compared with their European competitors. This was one of the most surprising results of the entire study. The operator’s country of origin could matter as much as the very high costs that a data center might impose on local residents.

A company from the United States can matter as much as higher electricity bills

A closer look at the findings shows that the operator-origin effect roughly matched the impact of a major rise in energy prices and the way the center would receive its power.

This is where one of the study’s most striking conclusions appears. A hypothetical project run by a company from the United States lost roughly as much support as a version that assumed as much as a 20-percent increase in local energy prices. In other words, Germans seemed willing to overlook higher costs, both environmental and economic, as long as the data center operator came from Europe. That does not mean bills stopped mattering. Quite the opposite.

When the researchers compared attitudes toward projects using different energy sources, they found that this factor also mattered a great deal. Respondents accepted centers powered by renewable energy more readily than those using gas or coal. The coal-based option proved clearly less popular than the project powered by renewables.

Politics reaches even the server room

Differences also emerged among supporters of different political parties. Voters for The Left and the Greens showed a much stronger preference for renewable energy. Among AfD supporters, the energy source mattered noticeably less. The researchers demonstrated that a project assuming a 20-percent increase in local energy prices received almost 20 percentage points less support than the more favorable price scenario.

This difference matters methodologically: the researchers did not observe a real increase in household bills. Respondents assessed hypothetical projects. Water produced a similar pattern. A heavy burden on local water resources reduced community support by 13 points. The positive arguments in favor of investment worked somewhat differently.

Jobs alone are not enough

When respondents learned that new data centers could create as many as 250 additional jobs, their support increased. Yet it rose only modestly, by around 10 percentage points. That result may disappoint, but it has an explanation. Most of the positions offer little long-term employment stability, so these benefits do not offset fears about high electricity and water bills.

Data centers now form the basic infrastructure of the digital world. They support the cloud, online services, social media, maps, and increasingly demanding artificial intelligence systems. For years, the largest share of global cloud infrastructure grew around American and Chinese tech giants. Europe is now trying harder to reduce that dependence and develop its own European data centers. It has good reason to do so.

Europe wants its own data centers

One reason is Europe’s digital sovereignty. German and European politicians use this argument when they call for the development of Europe’s own digital infrastructure. Such infrastructure can give states and European companies more control over where data is processed, which jurisdiction applies, and who can access key digital services. Still, the mere physical location of a server inside a country does not automatically mean full control over the data stored there.

It can also make it easier to develop European cloud services and AI tools, while reducing dependence on the largest providers from outside the continent. Whoever controls this kind of infrastructure can attract technology investment, tax revenue, and highly skilled jobs. For that reason, some states and regions try to lure investors with tax breaks, access to energy, and land for large infrastructure projects. Yet the study shows that the economic promise alone may not be enough.

German citizens are not as optimistic or open toward domestic data centers as one might assume. Energy prices, water, and the power source all matter. And the identity of the operator matters exceptionally strongly.

That is why foreign investors who want to build data centers in Germany must consider more than the project’s economics. They need to offer far better digital and environmental terms if they want to increase public support for their investments.

Read this article in Polish: Niemcy stawiają warunki centrom danych. USA i Chiny tracą na starcie