IT boom town Munich in the heart of Europe

Microsoft: German headquarters in Munich.
Amazon: German headquarters in Munich.
Google: by far the largest German location and expansion in Munich.
Apple: massive expansion in Munich.
Samsung: European headquarters in Munich since 2020.
IBM: the IoT project “Watson” is currently being built up in Munich.
The presence of the world’s five largest tech corporations in Germany speaks a relatively clear language. The Bavarian capital is a hotspot for the IT industry.
Two of the three largest European IT distributors are also based in Munich: Ingram Micro and Techdata.
The south of Germany also appears to be the first choice for the leading IT system houses: Cancom is based in Munich and Germany’s largest system house – the Bechtle AG – is headquartered in Neckarsulm, which is also located in the south of Germany and can be reached quickly and easily from Munich thanks to an infrastructure that has been steadily improved in recent years.

Pioneer among the metropolises
In 2018, the IT sector in Munich was responsible for 8 percent of jobs subject to social insurance contributions, according to a study by the city and the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK).
Munich as an IT location already has a long tradition, not least due to a highly respected technical university (TU Munich), which focused on high-tech at an early stage. Another advantage for the high-tech location of Munich are the headquarters of Siemens, but possibly also due to the strong and dominating automotive industry in Germany: BMW is located in Munich, Audi at the gates of the city and Daimler-Chrysler or Porsche in Stuttgart – just two hours by car from Munich. Nowadays, IT and high-tech are playing an increasingly important role in innovative companies such as those in the automotive industry.

Meanwhile, the process itself is increasing
IT talents are attracted to where the companies are, and the companies to where the IT specialists are. “We find talents here that we wouldn’t find elsewhere,” Apple CEO Tim Cook recently told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about Munich.
Numerous smaller innovative supplier companies relocated to Munich, due to its advantageous proximity to customers.