Siemens Energy: Record Orders Meet German Bureaucracy as AI Infrastructure Boom Accelerates

Siemens Energy CEO warns Germany's slow permitting threatens AI data center build-out amid $4 trillion global investment; record orders, Camlin acquisition, bullish analysts.

The world’s biggest industrial companies are pouring trillions into artificial-intelligence data centers, but Siemens Energy’s chief executive warns that Germany risks being left behind — not for lack of demand, but because of red tape. Christian Bruch’s caution comes as the company itself is riding a wave of record orders, expanding its grid business through acquisition, and preparing to update investors on its massive share buyback program.

Global investment in AI data centers is expected to hit $4 trillion over the next two and a half years, with each gigawatt of capacity generating annual electricity costs of around €1.3 billion. Brussels-based Anthropic alone secured €35 billion in chip financing in mid-June. Siemens Energy supplies precisely the transformers, grid connections and power-generation equipment that these facilities need. Yet in Germany, according to Bruch, slow permitting threatens to stall the build-out. The danger, he argues, is that the country loses both pace and control over its own energy infrastructure.

The company’s operational performance tells a different story. Siemens Energy booked a record order intake of €17.7 billion in its second fiscal quarter, pushing the total backlog to €154 billion. To capitalise on that momentum, it announced the acquisition of Northern Ireland’s Camlin Group earlier this month. Camlin, which employs around 650 people and generates annual revenue of more than £90 million, specialises in real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance for power-grid operators. The deal, expected to close before year-end, bolsters the Grid Technologies segment — the same division for which management recently raised its growth forecast to 14-16%.

On the renewable side, a milestone came from the North Sea: all 100 turbines of the 1.4-gigawatt Sofia offshore wind farm, operated by RWE, are now in place. Full commercial operation is slated for later this year.

Shares in Siemens Energy have given back some of their dramatic gains in recent weeks. At €153.46, the stock sits roughly 21% below the April high of €195.54 and has slid about 9% over the past 30 days. Still, it is up roughly 75% year-on-year and around 25% since January. The 14-day relative-strength index stands at 42.7, a neutral reading. While the share price has fallen below its 50-day moving average of €168.70, it remains 12.3% above the 200-day average of €136.66 — a sign the long-term uptrend is intact.

Wall Street analysts remain broadly bullish. JPMorgan’s Phil Buller has an overweight rating and a price target of €225, citing structural demand from AI data centers and the grid connections they require. Jefferies recently lifted its target from €164 to €215, pointing to the record order book. Of 21 analysts covering the stock, 19 recommend buying. The average consensus price target is around €195.

Investors will get the next major update on Wednesday, when chief financial officer Maria Ferraro speaks at a J.P. Morgan conference. Market participants expect details on the second tranche of the €6 billion share buyback programme — a tranche of up to €1 billion that is scheduled to run until September 2026, with the overall programme stretching into 2028. The next quarterly results are due in August.

Siemens Energy is also positioning itself for the green-hydrogen economy. Partner EWE has signed offtake agreements starting in 2030, including a contract to supply roughly 10,000 tonnes annually to steelmaker Salzgitter AG. The electrolysis capacity for that hydrogen would come from Siemens Energy. Whether Ferraro addresses that topic on Wednesday remains to be seen, but the hydrogen push adds another layer to a company that is juggling record order flow, a major acquisition, and a chief executive’s blunt warning about regulatory drag at home.