Preparing for take-off: Alexander Hauser
As he prepares for the AI boom to drive soaring data center demands, TTSP HWP’s CEO Alexander Hauser explains how visionary planning is enabling its preparation for Germany’s data center expansion.
With every second, our reliance on technologies such as AI, machine learning and the cloud only increases, and with it, our need for newer, larger, more powerful data centers that can handle the data flow. The global data center market is predicted to grow from US$242 billion in 2024 to exceed US$584 billion by 2032.
In Europe, Germany is emerging as a leader in the continent’s data center market. The city of Frankfurt is the second-largest location for data centers in Europe, after London.
It is here that DE-CIX, one of the largest internet exchange points in the world, is found. Berlin, too, hosts several data centers, and Munich and Hamburg are considered emerging markets. Further west, excitement is brewing around the potential of the Rhineland region, particularly with Microsoft’s announcement that it will build two data centers in Bergheim and Bedburg in 2026 for its cloud infrastructure and AI applications.
For foreign companies with a footprint in Europe, a data center on the continent is non-negotiable. Not only for optimal network latency but also for ease of compliance with data protection regulations, most notably the General Data Protection Regulation.
That’s where companies like TTSP HWP come in, as the experts who both plan integrated data centers for international clients in Germany and then oversee their implementation. Think of them as town planners, specifically designed to serve the intricate microcity that is a data center.
A turnkey service
For instance, when French data center operator DATA4 made its entry into the German data center market with the construction of a data center campus on a former army base in Hanau-Großauheim, it turned to TTSP HWP to advise on the purchase of the site and to guide it throughout the development of the project.
"We are technical advisors in the data center industry that provide a turnkey service to our clients," CEO Alexander Hauser tells The CEO Magazine.
In collaboration with
BS Schwarzbart Ingenieure
Its team of 115, based in Frankfurt and Stuttgart, includes architects, urban planners and engineers. A significant part of that service is around the site of the data center itself, especially in the current climate where scarcity of suitable land poses a real issue.
"We support our clients with identifying sites," he explains. "But we also have relationships with landowners so we can offer our clients new site opportunities."
Once a potential site has been identified, there’s a site evaluation that takes place, from due diligence and test fits to the identification of its megawatt capabilities.
"We also support our clients by liaising with power supply companies, with authorities in terms of planning and sometimes local politicians, especially where the zoning or development plan needs to be created," he adds.
Hauser jokes that this means he spends a lot of time in local councils while he and his colleagues strive to get all their projects across the line.
"The biggest responsibility, of course, is the design," he notes.
TTSP HWP takes the design lead, delivering a bundled package of design blueprints and all relevant permits. Where the client wishes, the company can also help with selecting a contractor and supervising the site and overseeing all the administration involved with construction.
"We go all the way to the handover by the authorities, so it really is the full life cycle," he explains.
With so many moving parts, it’s not unusual for obstacles to clutter his path to completion, but Hauser prides himself on his ability to find solutions.
"It may be due to the zoning plan, or a clause in an energy regulation, but we always clear the hurdles and we’re able to bring our client one step further," he says.
Going against the grain
Many of these clients are from the United States and include the world’s largest cloud providers. Hauser explains that he often turns to their can-do attitude and confident approach to risk for inspiration.
"Our clients are often pouring hundreds of millions of euros into plots without ever knowing whether they are going to get these plots across the line," he says.
"But Americans always find a way to make things work, even what seemingly won’t work. And they’re very good at finding ideas."
Hauser, who moved to Washington D.C. in the late 1990s to complete his Master of International Relations (Economics and Science and Technology) at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, says the North American way of working has influenced his leadership style.
"I always tell our people, ‘Don’t look at the path, look at the goal, then find the best way’," he says. "That’s something that is also not very German, as generally we like to go step-by-step rather than looking at the endpoint and working backwards."
It may go against the grain, but Hauser knows just how important the approach has been to the company’s success, along with an attitude of never telling the client that something they want won’t work.
"Germans, we like to highlight what doesn’t work," he says with a smile. "But in our industry, it’s very important to tell them how they can make something better."
The data center evangelist
Since its foundation in 1989, TTSP HWP has implemented over 50 data center projects across Germany as a general planner. Hauser, who hails from a commercial background, joined the company in 2016 but has been working in the data center space since 2011.
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He is committed to data center development, he says, especially in the face of current opinions toward the sector.
"If you told someone a decade ago that you were in the data center industry, most people would have looked at you and asked what a data center was because they had never heard of it," he says.
Now, the response has swung in the other direction. "People now say, ‘Oh, you mean those ugly boxes that eat up all our energy.’ The data center industry has gone from a hidden place to an ugly spot within a short period of time, I think largely based on prejudices."
That makes it even more essential for professionals in the space like Hauser to take the time to explain the benefits of data centers.
"There’s a lot of positives that a data center can bring to a city. Of course there are some negatives, but any commercial activity consumes area," he explains.
"You need jobs, you need tax, you need perspectives and that’s why I think data centers are one of the most beneficial commercial activities for cities."
Sustainable focus
Topping the list of concerns that swarm around data centers is power and resource consumption. In response, Hauser says the company, wherever possible, is encouraging the construction of data centers as close as possible to renewable energy sources such as wind or solar parks.
"What we’re trying to do – and where I think we’re shaping the industry a little bit – is by directly achieving green power purchase agreements," he says.
While it’s the tenant of the data center, not TTSP HWP itself, that signs the contract, Hauser explains that its role is more facilitating the connection.
Hauser says environmental considerations are a significant proportion of his role and increasingly he and his teams are conversing with heat operators to discuss what is possible in terms of harnessing the excess heat generated from data centers.
"I always say a server is a toaster," he says. "It converts electric energy into thermal energy and it does that whether you have two kilowatts per square meter or 10. That’s unused energy."
The key challenge is how to redistribute that excess heat and the role it could play in the green transition. It’s a question that is particularly relevant now Germany has passed laws around the decarbonization of heat production: the revised Building Energy Act and the new Local Heat Planning Act target the total decarbonization of the heating sector by 2045.
"Technically, this is ideal You have cities that have to decarbonize their heat production and you have data centers who need to give away decarbonized heat. How do you get these two things together?" Hauser acknowledges.
"In theory this should be a strong match. But in practice it is difficult, and this is where we spend a lot of time getting things done."
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Other areas where the TTSP HWP architects spend time getting things done are on the sustainable swaps that can be made in the construction process.
"We are looking at using low carbon concrete and wood in some areas of the data center, as well as using recycled building materials," he says. "This is somewhere we think architects can contribute significantly, in making data construction less CO2 intensive."
The time is right
In January 2025, it was announced that global alternative asset management group Tikehau Capital had signed an agreement to acquire TTSP HWP. The investment aims to drive its growth from a German to a Pan-European leader. It will also support the company’s role in advancing sustainable solutions.
Hauser says the partnership means the company is well-positioned to build on its leadership in the industry and expand its capabilities across Europe – especially as it prepares for the AI impact to hit.
"In my view, no-one really knows what an AI data center is going to be like. Not even the hyperscalers," he says.
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That means the industry hasn’t seen the big projects yet.
"When we do, it’s going to have a massive impact on data center growth. The data center volumes and the requirements for computing power will be so much higher," he says.
Never have partnerships been so needed, and key in the TTSP HWP ecosystem are structural engineering firm BS Schwarzbart Ingenieure; engineering firm PST; planners BPR Dr. Schäpertöns Consult; engineering and construction firm CDM Smith; engineers ZWP Ingenieur; environmental consultants Hintzen Umweltberatung; planners Hoffmann Liebs; and engineering and consulting firm Werner Genest & Partner Ingenieurgesellschaft.
It’s an industry bursting with potential, but also with an image problem.
"It needs to sell itself better, lobby harder," Hauser acknowledges. "Fortunately, it’s now waking up."
Data centers as a whole, he continues, need to invest a lot more in sustainability, which could include building up local climate funds to benefit the communities where the centers are located.
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Hauser also cautions that sustainability must be viewed through more lenses than just the environmental one.
"Sustainability is not only green, sustainability is also how you integrate in a city or in a village," he says. "Most of the big plots are not in the cities, they’re in the villages. So you have to look at how you integrate in the village and how you can cooperate positively or develop positively together with a village.
"These are aspects that no-one’s really looked at so far, but they will be essential to enable further growth."
The future is green – and in Europe, it’s brimming with potential, according to Hauser.
"The cloud penetration rate we have is about half what the United States has," he says. "I think the industry is just about to take off, to be honest."
In collaboration with
BS Schwarzbart Ingenieure
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In collaboration with
Hoffmann Liebs
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