EU to allocate €10 billion for seven AI gigafactories

The European Union has proposed allocating €10 billion for the construction of seven artificial intelligence gigafactories. The European Commission expects that public funding will help attract an additional €20 billion in private investment.

Companies and consortia can already apply to participate in the projects. Specific construction sites and contractors have not yet been selected.

Each gigafactory is planned to be equipped with at least 100,000 state-of-the-art AI processors. According to the European Commission's estimates, such facilities will be about four times more powerful than existing European AI development centres.

The new infrastructure is intended for the creation, training, and deployment of the next generation of large AI models. European companies, start-ups, research institutions, and public sector organisations are expected to gain access to the computing resources.

Once the seven facilities are operational, the total computing power of Europe's AI infrastructure is expected to more than double. Currently, the EU has a network of 19 so-called AI factories located in different member states.

Brussels says the programme is driven by an effort to close the technology gap with the US and China. European authorities also seek to reduce dependence on foreign providers of cloud services, hardware, and AI models.

European Commission Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty Henna Virkkunen called access to large-scale computing power a strategic necessity for Europe. The systems developed at the new sites must comply with EU requirements on data protection, security, and responsible use of AI.

The gigafactories will consume significant amounts of electricity and will require an advanced cooling system. Therefore, when selecting projects, the authorities intend to consider energy availability, sustainable equipment supply, and data-centre efficiency.

Based on materials from: Associated Press, European Commission