Placeholders
Placeholders
In Munich’s Tucherpark, one of the first so-called AI factories (AI = Artificial Intelligence) in Germany and the first in Bavaria went into operation. As the investors - the asset manager Commerz Real and the global real estate investment manager Hines - reported, the development of the neighbourhood has been expanded with an important use that strengthens Munich as a technology and economic location. As early as October 2025, both had signed a 13-year lease agreement with the operator Polarise for the former Hypovereinsbank (HVB) data centre. The anchor user of the first expansion stage is the telecom subsidiary T-Systems. Gradually, the output is to be increased to up to 15 megawatts, a typical value for medium-sized data centres.
“This means that one of the most powerful infrastructures for AI computers in Germany was created years before comparable projects elsewhere in Germany in the heart of Munich,” says Michel Boutouil, CEO of Polarise. Founded in 2024, the company draws on the expertise and experience of many successfully implemented data centres over the past 15 years and operates AI factories “across the entire lifecycle”, according to its own information. The first similar facility was opened in Oslo in 2025. Further factories are planned or already being implemented in Bavaria, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Unlike traditional data centres, AI factories have significantly higher performance and energy density. The 10,700-square-metre facility on six basements in Tucherpark has a capacity for around 10,000 modern graphics processors (GPUs) provided by the American technology company Nvidia. Users of the infrastructure are companies from industry, research and technology. Built in 1991 and used by HVB until June 2024, the plant was comprehensively modernised. A new above-ground access with truck driveway and office space will also replace the previous access via an underground tunnel under the Eisbach river.
Munich is an outstanding location with a great appeal for tech companies and wants to play a leading role in European AI development in the future.
And Christian Meister, Senior Managing Director at Hines in Germany, adds: In Tucherpark, we have an optimal infrastructure that allows us to implement these plans quickly, cost-effectively and in an environmentally friendly way. The AI factory is embedded in the Tucherpark’s sustainability strategy. The resulting waste heat is used to supply the surrounding buildings with energy - a concept that Polarise is already successfully using at the Oslo site to heat the international airport. In Munich, the Eisbach is also used to cool the plants.
Commerz Real AG is the asset manager of the Commerzbank Group and has 50 years of international market experience. The company combines extensive know-how in asset management with broad structuring expertise and uses this expertise to develop tangible asset-oriented fund products and individual investment solutions in the real estate and infrastructure sectors. As a leasing service provider of Commerzbank, Commerz Real Mobilienleasing also offers needs-based leasing concepts.
Since 2025, the Commerzbank Group’s asset management holdings have been bundled with Commerz Real AG. In addition to Commerz Real’s brands and products, these include the Aquila Capital investment company with a focus on sustainable tangible asset investments in the area of energy infrastructure and Yellowfin as a boutique for liquid investment strategies. Under the umbrella of Commerz Real AG, a total of around 1,000 employees manage assets of around EUR 55 billion at around 20 locations.