MUNICH, Oct. 7, 2026 — As global enterprises race to transition artificial intelligence from experimental pilots to core operational infrastructure, a new facility in Munich aims to solve the “production gap” that often stalls digital transformation. NTT DATA today officially opened its AI Factory Munich, a specialized environment designed to allow organizations to stress-test AI workloads within a live, production-grade data center.
While innovation labs and software demonstrations have become common, they often lack the physical realities of enterprise computing. The AI Factory Munich, located within NTT Global Data Centers’ Munich 2 facility, provides a controlled, real-world setting where clients can evaluate the performance, security, governance, and operational requirements of AI systems before committing to large-scale capital investments.
The shift in market demand is clear. According to Chris Barnard, Vice President of Networking and Infrastructure Services at IDC, the industry has moved past the initial hype phase. “Organizations’ questions are shifting from access to compute toward ownership, control, and operational maturity,” Barnard noted. “The hardest problems are now integration, lifecycle management, and running these platforms at scale. Facilities where organizations can see a complete, production-grade stack operating… shorten the path from intent to measurable outcomes.”
The facility functions as a collaborative ecosystem, integrating hardware and software from major technology partners. By utilizing NVIDIA’s accelerated computing platform—including Blackwell GPUs, Spectrum-X Ethernet networking, and NVIDIA AI Enterprise software—alongside the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, the facility offers a comprehensive, full-stack foundation. This setup is specifically engineered to handle the performance demands of modern AI models, from manufacturing analytics to complex banking transactions and healthcare diagnostics.
For many organizations, the primary barrier to AI adoption is not the software itself, but rather the integration of “sovereign AI”—the need to maintain data residency and meet strict regulatory compliance while scaling operations. Graham Clarke, Managing Director of Global Private & Sovereign AI at NTT DATA, emphasized that the center is designed to replace theoretical projections with empirical evidence. “Every leader I speak to wants AI they own, control, and trust,” Clarke said. “At the AI Factory Munich, they can run their own applications and data in a production data center… It’s the difference between a slide and a decision.”
The infrastructure provided at the Munich site allows companies to validate their use cases against specific jurisdictional boundaries and internal governance policies. By partnering with Dell Technologies and NVIDIA, NTT DATA provides a scalable environment where firms can test how their AI systems will behave under the pressures of a live data center environment.
Adrian McDonald, President of Dell Technologies EMEA, highlighted the necessity of this approach for businesses aiming to align with local regulatory frameworks. “This gives organizations a scalable, production-grade environment to test their own workloads, evaluate performance, and build a confident path to deploying AI at scale,” McDonald stated.
The launch of the Munich site is a significant component of NTT DATA’s broader global network, which aims to provide resources for developing and deploying advanced technologies across its client base of over 70 countries. The facility is currently open to enterprise and public sector organizations by appointment, offering a sandbox where the feasibility of large-scale AI deployment can be verified through rigorous, real-world performance testing.
As the technology sector moves toward increasingly complex AI deployments, facilities like the AI Factory Munich may become the new standard for verifying that AI initiatives are not only innovative but also stable, secure, and ready for the demands of long-term enterprise operation. Organizations interested in evaluating their own AI applications are encouraged to coordinate site visits through their respective NTT DATA account teams or via the company’s official website.
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