EU Launches €30 Billion AI Gigafactories Initiative

The EU has outlined plans to provide €10 billion in funding to build seven AI gigafactories. Those incentives would unlock an opening for an additional €20 billion in private investment for the project.

In its latest push to accelerate Europe’s technological sovereignty and close the gap to the US and China, the EU stated that the initiative would expand AI compute capacity and give start-ups, SMEs, industry, and others access to infrastructure for training, inference, and tuning of advanced frontier AI models. The European Commission explained that the gigafactories would be used to combine advanced AI processors, software, and cloud technology stacks, high-speed connectivity, and energy-efficient data centers. They will add to Europe’s network of 19 AI gigafactories, aiming to ensure the continent can develop advanced AI on its own infrastructure in line with EU rules, following standards on data protection, security and ethics.

The first step is a call for tenders, with the EU inviting consortiums or special purpose vehicles bringing companies, public entities, investors and other partners to apply. The facilities can be established in a single member state, either on one site or across several locations. They may also include cross-border developments in several member states through distributed AI computing facilities. Applications will undergo a competitive evaluation to select successful projects. The application process closes on 12 November, with successful bidders to be announced in 2027. Facilities will need to become operational within 18 months of contracts being signed.

“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. 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,” said Henna Virkkunen, EC EVP for Tech Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy.