AI adoption in German firms surges 118% since 2024, but global digital market share slips, studies show
Two new studies reveal rapid AI uptake across German industry, with 40% of firms now using the technology, while Bitkom warns the country's share of the global IT market is shrinking.
AI adoption reaches 40% of German firms
According to a study by IW Consult, 40% of German businesses now use artificial intelligence, a 118% increase since 2024. The survey of 500 companies, weighted by size, shows AI has moved beyond experimentation and is now embedded across the economy. Even among small firms with fewer than 50 employees, the adoption rate is close to 40%.
Digitalization remains a growth driver in Germany.
Job market shifts as AI becomes a basic skill
The IW study, which also analyzed 55 million online job ads from 2019 to 2025, found that AI requirements are no longer confined to IT specialists. In industry, the share of skilled-worker job postings demanding AI skills rose from 10% in 2019 and 2022 to 17% in 2025. The researchers describe AI competence as an emerging cross-functional basic skill, spreading from production to logistics and quality management.
- 2019
- 10 %
- 2022
- 10 %
- 2025
- 17 %
Digital industry grows, driven by cloud and AI
Separate figures from Bitkom show the German IT and telecom market will grow 4.1% in 2026 to €246.4 billion. Software sales are set to rise 9.9% to €58.1 billion, with cloud software jumping 21.9% to €42.5 billion. AI platforms are the fastest-growing segment, with revenue expected to surge 75.8% to €3.1 billion, following 50% growth the previous year.
- AI platforms
- 75.8 %
- Cloud software
- 21.9 %
- Software
- 9.9 %
- IT overall
- 5.4 %
- Telecom
- 1.4 %
Germany falls behind globally
Despite the domestic momentum, Bitkom warns that Germany is losing ground internationally. The global ITC market is forecast to grow 8.5% to €5.9 trillion in 2026, with the US commanding a 41% share and 12.7% growth. Germany’s share is just 3.8%.
The gap between the USA and China on one side and Germany and its European neighbors on the other is widening.
Wintergerst called for policies to accelerate network expansion, such as prioritized power connections for mobile masts, and urged Germany to at least match US growth rates.
Reasons for non-adoption
The IW study also found that 60% of German companies do not yet use AI. The main barriers cited are a perceived lack of relevance to their business model (61%), insufficient capacity (34%), and data protection concerns (29%). The researchers attribute the rapid uptake among adopters to a German strategy of applying and specializing existing global base models with proprietary industrial data, rather than building foundational models from scratch.
