The owner of German supermarket chain Lidl has broken ground on a new data center in Lübbenau, Germany, to host its cloud division.

Schwarz Digits, the IT and digital division of the Schwarz Group, this week broke ground on the new facility in Lübbenau.

The first phase of the Schwarz Digits Datacenter, with three modules, will be completed by the end of 2027. The campus will offer 200MW across two phases and be able to host up to 100,000 GPUs.

The 13-hectare brownfield site was previously the Lübbenau power plant. Schwartz said more than 20,000 cubic meters of concrete and stones, 110 tons of steel, and 20 tons of wood were separated, recycled, and reused.

Lübbenau is a town in the Upper Spree Forest-Lusatia District of Brandenburg, some 90 km south of Berlin. The 1.3GW coal power plant in the town was shut down in 1996 after some 40 years in operation, and has since been demolished.

StackIT, Schwarz’s cloud division, will operate a data center site from Lübbenau.

The €11 billion investment is described as the largest single investment in the company’s history. The liquid-cooled site will make its waste heat available to the local distict heating network, operated by regional energy supplier Süll.

“The increase in hybrid threats in recent years and unilateral digital dependencies are serious challenges for businesses across Europe. In particular, critical infrastructure must therefore be protected even better against unauthorized third-party access in the future," said Christian Müller, co-CEO of Schwarz Digits. “It is therefore essential for us to invest heavily in state-of-the-art and scalable data centers.”

“For us, Lübbenau is more than just a data center location; it is a central anchor point for Europe’s lived digital sovereignty. Here, we create the independent and secure infrastructure that enables companies and citizens to maintain control of their data and to shape our digital future in a self-determined manner,” added Rolf Schumann, co-CEO, Schwarz Digits.

Founded in 1930, the Schwarz Group (aka Schwarz Gruppe) is Europe’s largest retailer, operating stores under the Lidl and Kaufland brands.

Schwarz Digits is the IT and digital division of Schwarz Group, and under that sits StackIT, the company’s cloud division, as well as other cybersecurity and AI units. Schwarz Group’s Kaufland division has had a logistics center in Lübbenau since 1996.

StackIT was launched in May 2022 with the aim of creating a European cloud solution in Germany. The company lists three data centers on its website: DC01 and DC08 in Neckarsulm and Ellhofen, Germany; and DC10 in Ostermiething, Austria. The company operates two cloud regions: EU01 in Germany and EU02 in Austria.

Built in 2018, the first phase of DC10 offers up to 1,000 sqm (10,760 sq ft), with another 4,500 sqm (48,400 sq ft) to be offered in phase two; it reportedly has a PUE of 1.1 and utilizes river cooling. DC08 offers 300 sqm (3,200 sq ft) across two data halls. Built in 2017, the 650 sqm (6,990 sq ft) building has 1.5MW of capacity.