DE EN

News · Incorporations

One in thirty new corporations focuses on artificial intelligence

Defence, drones and battery storage are also experiencing waves of incorporation. For crypto assets and cannabis, a large part of the new companies is already out of business.

By the HDH Group Research editorial team ·

1,397: incorporations with artificial intelligence in the corporate purpose from 1 January to 23 October 2026
Source: HDH Group Research, The new waves of incorporation, as of 23 October 2026.

Artificial intelligence is the incorporation theme of the present. From 1 January to 23 October 2026, 1,397 new corporations named it in their corporate purpose, 34.9 in every thousand incorporations and thus about one in thirty. In the whole of 2025 there were 1,257, in 2021 220. This is shown by an analysis by HDH Group Research of the corporate purposes of all corporations incorporated since 2018.

Defence, drones and storage gain ground

Since spring 2022, considerably more companies have been formed for defence and security: 42 in 2025, after fewer than ten a year up to 2021. Incorporations with drones in the corporate purpose rose to 84 in 2025. Battery storage has grown without interruption, from 52 incorporations in 2018 to 558 in 2025. The number of incorporations with data centres in the corporate purpose doubled in 2025 to 117.

Waves that have subsided

Photovoltaics peaked in 2023 with 1,779 incorporations and stood at 989 in 2025. For crypto assets and cannabis, a large part of the new companies is already out of business: of the cannabis incorporations of 2021 to 2023, 25.2% are insolvent, dissolved or in liquidation, of the crypto companies 18.6%. The average across all incorporations of these years is 10.1%.

One third of the companies for artificial intelligence, drones, crypto assets and cannabis are formed as an entrepreneurial company (UG) with little capital. Data centres, battery storage and hydrogen are founded with greater capital and more often managed from abroad.

Method

A theme counts as named if the registered corporate purpose of a company contains one of its terms. Counted are companies registered today, by year of incorporation, as of 23 October 2026. For 2026 the data extends to 23 October; registrations of the last few weeks are still coming in.

The report

This item is based on the report “The new waves of incorporation” by HDH Group Research. It contains all figures and tables, the definition of the population and a section on method and limitations: The new waves of incorporation, also as PDF.

About HDH Group Research. HDH Group Research examines the structure of German corporations on the basis of its own complete database of more than one million companies. The results may be used freely provided the source is acknowledged.

Press enquiries and analyses to your own definition: info@hdhgroup.de, +43 664 2053061. The editorial team

Further news

Pullach: more than four in ten companies are holding companies One in five new incorporations in Germany is now a holding company. In the strongholds near Munich and Berlin, management usually lives elsewhere. One in five German inverter companies is managed from China For the control technology of solar installations, the share is about fifty times the average. The battery storage trade is also more than one fifth managed from China, while grids and supply are managed almost exclusively from Germany. One in twenty German corporations is managed from abroad Since the start of the war, hardly any companies with management in Russia have been formed. Half of the companies managed from Turkey, by contrast, were only incorporated since February 2022. Insolvencies of corporations up 23.5 percent within a year Hospitality carries the highest rate, entrepreneurial companies record the sharpest increase. Companies with registered power of attorney and a management of several people are affected far less often.

All news