OpenAI wants to strengthen its presence in Germany. Sam Altman has announced the opening of an office in Berlin, which will be the company’s second German branch after Munich. No specific date has yet been given. At the same time, the company is discussing the possibility of expanding its data centre infrastructure in Germany.
The choice of Germany is no coincidence. According to OpenAI’s data, the country is the largest ChatGPT market in Europe and ranks among the world’s leaders in terms of the number of paying users. The company is also expanding its collaboration with large businesses. Deutsche Telekom currently has over 50,000 monthly active users of ChatGPT and API tools, and usage has risen by 546 per cent since the start of 2026.
However, the issue of infrastructure may be far more important than the office itself. Europe is attempting to narrow the computing power gap with the US and China. At the end of July, the European Commission launched a programme to build up to seven AI gigafactories. Up to €10 billion in public funding is expected to stimulate at least €20 billion in private investment.
For Germany, a potential OpenAI data centre would mean investment, jobs and easier access to AI infrastructure, but also greater demand for energy and transmission networks. The issue of data will also be important for businesses. OpenAI states that, by default, it does not use business customers’ data to train models, and offers some services with European data residency and a zero-retention option.
This expansion comes shortly after the enforcement of further provisions of the EU’s AI Act began on 2 August. Berlin could therefore become not only a sales hub for OpenAI, but also a key point of dialogue with European regulators and industry.
