FILE PHOTO: The logo of Deutsche Telekom AG is silhouetted against the sun and clouds atop of the headquarters of German telecommunications giant in Bonn, Germany, February 19, 2019. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File Photo
BERLIN (Reuters) -Deutsche Telekom, Ionos and the Schwarz Group's IT subsidiary will submit competing applications to the EU for an AI data centre after the German firms could not agree on a common concept, the Tagesspiegel newspaper reported Thursday.
Software giant SAP will not participate, according to the newspaper.
The expression of interest which is being submitted precedes an official application, which will take place in autumn, a spokesperson of the web-hosting company Ionos told Reuters.
"The expression of interest is a first step. On this basis, the European Commission defines the further phases," Achim Weiss, CEO of Ionos, said in a statement via the spokesperson.
The German applicants could still join forces during the selection process for the data centres planned by the European Union, Tagesspiegel said in the report.
The other companies involved were not available for comment when contacted by Reuters.
(Writing by Miranda Murray, Editing by Friederike Heine and Matthias Williams)
