A major transformation is being planned in Kanice near Brno. The company MasterDC, which has long operated data centers in Brno and Prague, plans to convert a former military complex into a specialized data center for artificial intelligence. The project is expected to be completed as early as next autumn, making it the first of its kind in the Czech Republic. The complex, which the company purchased in 2022, also includes a telecommunications nuclear fallout shelter, ensuring an exceptional level of security.
Renovation will begin in November and proceed in stages based on current demand. The first phase is expected to involve an investment of hundreds of millions of Czech korunas. The entire complex covers 26,000 square meters, with the first data center building offering 1,000 square meters of usable floor space. Initial power capacity will reach four megawatts, with the option to expand it to as much as 25 megawatts. Just under one hundred water-cooled server racks will be available, with each rack capable of handling up to 120 kilowatts of equipment—ideal for power-intensive chips from Nvidia and AMD.
Security and sustainability come first
The complex in Kanice is unique because of its history. It includes two-story nuclear fallout shelters and a double perimeter, ensuring a high level of protection. MasterDC is aiming for Tier 4 standards, which means maximum reliability and minimal downtime. In addition, a photovoltaic power plant with a capacity of 5 megawatts will be built on the site, helping to make operations more sustainable.
According to Karel Diviš, Sales Director at MasterDC, the goal is to gradually develop services such as building private clouds for artificial intelligence, AI colocation, and renting servers with GPUs. In the first phase, the company does not plan to purchase its own servers with AI chips, but will offer customers space to install their own equipment. In the future, it also plans to offer GPU computing capacity for rent and manage private AI clouds.
Jan Skalla, Innovation Tech Lead at MasterDC, notes that hardware availability depends on suppliers. Low-end GPU models are readily available, but the most powerful cards, especially in larger quantities, are difficult to obtain.
Government support and customers
The project has logistical, though not financial, support from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the South Moravian Region, and the City of Brno. The center's computing capacity is intended to serve universities, industry, and research—from chip design and quantum modeling to the training and deployment of artificial intelligence models. Stanislav Černý, President of the Czech National Semiconductor Cluster, sees the center as beneficial to both academia and industry because it will support the development of new technologies and chip design.
MasterDC already has preliminary contracts with customers and plans to reach 30–50% occupancy within six months of launch. Its target customers include industrial companies, small and medium-sized enterprises, startups, and academic institutions, both in the Czech Republic and abroad.
Comparison with other projects in the Czech Republic
This data center is the country's third major AI project. České Radiokomunikace recently began construction in Prague's Zbraslav district, with an initial capacity of 26 megawatts that can be expanded to 77–100 megawatts. The investment could reach tens of billions of Czech korunas if the Czech Republic secures the European AI gigafactory project. VSHosting is planning another center in Northern Bohemia with a capacity of 20 megawatts.
MasterDC, owned by entrepreneur Petr Vošmera, generates annual revenue of approximately CZK 300 million. The company is an approved provider of cloud services to the government and operates data centers at Cejl 20 in Brno and in Prague, where it offers hosting, cloud, and other server services.
Sources: e15.cz and aicrunch.cz
