EU launches call to build seven AI Gigafactories
The Commission hopes to unlock at least €30bn in collective public and private funding.
The EU is pushing forward with its plans to become the “AI continent” with a fresh call for tenders to set up seven AI Gigafactories across the bloc.
The initiative is expected to help the EU develop advanced AI on its own infrastructure in line with its strict rules around model safety.
The Commission on Thursday (30 July) said it is setting aside $10bn in EU and national funding, and hopes to tap at least $20bn from the private sector.
Interested consortia or Special Purpose Vehicles have until 12 November to make their bid. Awards will be announced in early 2027, the EU authority said.
The fresh call comes as the EU ramps up efforts to compete with the US in the AI space.
The additional compute capacity is expected to give European enterprises, academia and public authorities access to the infrastructure needed to train and fine-tune advanced AI models. The bloc has an existing network of 19 AI factories.
Funding is divided into into two consecutive development phases across two lots, with the 18 participating member states, including Ireland, Germany, France and Sweden matching EU funding, the Commission said.
The first lot of the initiative will support four Gigafactories, with each one eligible to receive as much as €100m in EU funding in the first phase, and up to €400m in the second.
A second lot will support three projects, with each receiving up to €200m from the bloc to begin with, and up to €800m per project in a second round.
Seleted AI Gigafactories are expected to begin operations 18 months after the consortia makes a successful bid.
EU’s AI Continent action plan, announced in April last year, is a wide-ranging initiative to transform Europe’s strong traditional industries and its talent pool into “powerful engines of AI innovation and acceleration”.
“The opening of the AI Gigafactories call represents a milestone in our AI Continent ambitions. Access to the raw scale of computing power within AI Gigafactories is a strategic necessity for Europe as AI development accelerates,” said EU executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy Henna Virkkunen.
“I am pleased to see member states, industry and the Commission coming together to work on these facilities that are key to our technological sovereignty.”
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