Supermarket Billionaire Wants to Build AI Gigafactory in Europe

The Schwarz Group, Germany’s largest retailer and owner of supermarket chain Lidl, is planning to pitch the government to be the lead developer of a major data center central to Europe’s artificial intelligence efforts.

The privately held retailer, which is controlled by billionaire founder Dieter Schwarz, will present its plan to spend billions of euros on Friday, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.

The Schwarz Group’s ambitions come as Germany seeks a piece of the €20 billion ($23.4 billion) European Union subsidies earmarked for new AI “gigafactories.” Germany’s ...