BERLIN (Reuters) -Deutsche Telekom, Ionos and the Schwarz Group's IT subsidiary will submit separate expressions of interest to the EU for an AI data processing centre after they could not agree on a common concept, Germany's Tagesspiegel newspaper reported on Thursday.

The European Commission this year unveiled plans to provide $20 billion in funding to construct AI data centres to catch up with the U.S. and China.

Under a government coalition agreement, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives and the Social Democrats said they aimed to have at least one of the centres built in Germany.

In May, Deutsche Telekom said it had teamed up with SAP, web hosting firm Ionos and unlisted retailer Schwarz to seek EU support to build a so-called "AI gigafactory," a facility designed specifically to support the massive computing needs of artificial intelligence.

The Tagesspiegel report, however, said that SAP was no longer participating in the bid.

SAP did not comment specifically on the process, saying only that it was "not seeking a role as an operator or investor in connection with AI gigafactories."

"Instead, we are examining how we can contribute our strengths as a technology and software provider to potential future AI gigafactory projects in Germany and Europe," the spokesperson said.

Ionos told Reuters that the bid being submitted to Brussels on Friday was only an initial expression of interest and that an official application would be submitted later this year together with "partners."

Schwarz Group declined to comment on whether it was submitting a separate bid, saying only that "should a German consortium be formed, everyone will be called upon to (contribute) to the realisation of the fastest, most reliable and most convincing AI gigafactory."

Deutsche Telekom was not available for comment when contacted by Reuters.

(Writing by Miranda Murray, Editing by Friederike Heine, Matthias Williams, Alexandra Hudson)