Minister zu Kronstorf

“There Is No Alternative to Google’s Expansion”

Economics Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (ÖVP) comments on the Google data center in Kronstorf, Upper Austria.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Horst Einöder, Google)

The U.S. company Google is building a massive data center in Kronstorf—amid protests over its high electricity consumption and land use. For Minister of Economic Affairs Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (ÖVP), the project is “unavoidable.” He calls for more “honesty,” noting: “Each of us uses AI applications on our cell phones...”

For weeks, there has been controversy over the Google data center in Kronstorf, Upper Austria. Due to the rising demand for AI applications, the U.S. company is currently building one of its largest server farms in all of Europe in Upper Austria, as reported. The first phase of expansion has already been approved by the authorities and is under construction—it is scheduled to go into operation in 2027.

At the same time, Google has submitted documents for a further expansion on the 50-hectare site. In its final phase (which has not yet been approved), the data center could consume up to 4.4 terawatt-hours of electricity, according to recent calculations by Netz OÖ. By way of comparison: According to the energy report, the entire state of Upper Austria consumed 14 terawatt-hours in 2025.

“We need some honesty here”
Now, Minister of Economic Affairs Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (ÖVP) has spoken to the “Krone” about the U.S. company’s mega-project in his home state of Upper Austria: “There is no alternative to this project. If we want to maintain prosperity and jobs, we must be technological pioneers”—and that requires infrastructure like the server farm.

Even though the data center is located in Upper Austria, the computing power, of course, belongs solely to the U.S. giant Google. Hattmannsdorfer counters: “Each of us uses AI applications on our cell phones. All of that requires computing power. We could say, ‘We won’t build the data center.’ But then we’d also have to agree that we’d no longer use digital applications in our private lives. That requires a certain degree of honesty.”

Government Negotiating EIA Amendment
The government is currently negotiating an amendment to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) law. So far, data centers aren’t automatically subject to an EIA—the SPÖ and the Greens want to change that. Hattmannsdorfer remains vague on the matter: “I’m not going to discuss individual cases right now. The only question at hand is: How do we speed up the EIA procedures?”

The EIA amendment is scheduled to be finalized this fall. The federal government had already announced at the beginning of the year its intention to introduce a “one-stop shop” for environmental impact assessments—replacing the two separate procedures at the federal and state levels—so that the assessments can be completed more quickly. With the debate over the data center in Kronstorf, the negotiations on the EIA have now taken on an additional dimension. A two-thirds majority is required for the amendment.