The UAE's 40 billion euro package for Germany includes about a gigawatt of data centres, with no site or builder named yet

A joint declaration from both governments puts the data centres at about 1 gigawatt and records company agreements worth more than 9.356 billion euros, with no site, builder or timetable for the data centres.

22 September 2026 · 4 min read · L1 Power and land · The Pulse, 10 September 2026

What happened

The President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, visited Germany from 9 to 11 September 2026 and was welcomed by Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Chancellery. A joint declaration posted by the UAE's foreign ministry on 10 September says the two leaders welcomed the announcement of a UAE investment package totaling 40 billion euros in Germany. It says the package includes new data centres with a capacity of approximately 1 gigawatt. A gigawatt is a measure of electrical power, a thousand megawatts. The German government's own translation of the declaration gives the same figure, "etwa 1 Gigawatt" (about 1 gigawatt). The declaration also records the signing of 29 memoranda and agreements between UAE and German companies with a total value exceeding 9.356 billion euros. A second posting of the declaration on the same ministry site, dated 11 September, gives 30 agreements worth more than 9.66 billion euros. Merz described the package as "ein wuchtiges Signal" (a forceful signal), according to the German government's own account.

Why it matters

These documents let you compare the headline figure with what companies have signed. The UAE's declaration gives two numbers side by side: a 40 billion euro package, and company memoranda and agreements worth more than 9.356 billion euros. It does not say whether the second sum is part of the first. The company figure also moved between the ministry's two postings: from 29 agreements to 30, and from more than 9.356 billion euros to more than 9.66 billion euros, a difference of about 0.3 billion euros by our arithmetic, with no explanation on either page.

Company agreements signed during the visit can be intentions rather than orders. RWE, the German power company, says it and Masdar of Abu Dhabi signed a memorandum during the state visit under which they "intend to consider joint participation in German offshore wind auctions in 2027", with "an indicative investment value exceeding EUR 3 billion".

What would change it, and when

The declaration sets no timetable for the data centres or for the 40 billion euros. The only dated steps in these documents that relate to investment are RWE's: the German offshore wind auctions in 2027, in which it and Masdar "intend to consider joint participation", and a letter of intent with ADNOC towards up to two contracts for liquefied natural gas, with supply starting in the early 2030s. For the data centres, none of the documents names a site, a builder or a start date.

What we do not know

The declaration names no company, city, German state or date for the data centres, and does not say over how many years the 40 billion euros is to be invested. Germany's news summary gives no capacity figure, though the declaration it links to does. None of the three documents says how much of the company agreements is binding, whether that sum is part of the 40 billion euros, or which company, if any, will build the data centres. Nor does the ministry say why its second posting carries a different company total.

What this changes for you

If you follow where Europe's data centres get built, treat the 1 gigawatt as a stated aim in a joint declaration rather than a project. The documents name no site or date for it, so an announcement that does is the one to watch for.

Sources

Everything above is written from these. Each line says what that document proves.

1. mofa.gov.ae: The UAE foreign ministry's posting of the joint declaration, dated 10 September 2026: the 40 billion euro package, data centres of approximately 1 GW, 29 company memoranda and agreements exceeding 9.356 billion euros, visit dates of 9 to 11 September, and no company, site or timetable for the data centres.
2. bundesregierung.de: The German federal government's own account, 11 September 2026, in German: the 40 billion euro package including new state-of-the-art data centres, with no capacity in the summary; the welcome at the Chancellery; Merz's "wuchtiges Signal" quote; and a link to its own German translation of the declaration.
3. bundesregierung.de: The German government's own translation of the joint declaration, press release 164/26 of 11 September 2026: data centres "mit einer Kapazität von etwa 1 Gigawatt", the 40 billion euro package, and 29 company agreements whose total value exceeds 9.356 billion euros.
4. mofa.gov.ae: The UAE foreign ministry's second posting of the declaration, dated 11 September 2026: 30 company memoranda and agreements with a total value exceeding 9.66 billion euros.
5. rwe.com: RWE's own release, 11 September 2026, quoting Sultan Al Jaber on "the UAE's intention to invest an additional €40 billion in Germany"; its memorandum with Masdar to consider joint participation in German offshore wind auctions in 2027, indicative value exceeding 3 billion euros; its letter of intent with ADNOC on up to two LNG contracts, supply from the early 2030s.

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