On Thursday 4 December, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Commission announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding to stimulate the development of artificial intelligence in Europe by financing ‘gigafactories' (see EUROPE 13670/9).
This European plan, which calls for the construction, over time, of five of these mega innovation and data centres for AI, should mobilise private capital and public funding to boost the EU in the race for artificial intelligence.
Although the Commission claims to have already received a “considerable” number of proposals since the initiative was launched at the beginning of the year, the call for expressions of interest for actual projects to set up these factories will not be officially opened until around January or February next year, according to the Commission’s Executive Vice-President responsible for Technological Sovereignty, Henna Virkkunen.
“Collectively, respondents expressed interest in creating ‘gigafactories’ dedicated to AI for a total indicative amount of more than €230 billion over the next three to five years” she said.
She also stated that the “majority owners” of these future major AI model development centres “should come from Europe” to ensure consistency with the EU's ambition to work on its sovereignty and strategic independence (see EUROPE 13706/7).
In February 2025, the European Commission pledged to invest €20 billion as part of its InvestAI initiative. The partnership with the EIB should enable these subsidies to be supplemented by loans to stimulate private investment, which is absolutely essential to the success of the project.
The EU currently has nineteen European sites designated to host AI factories, which should eventually create an interconnected network of AI clusters (see EUROPE 13598/9) on which future ‘gigafactories’ should be based.
Faced with the American and Chinese giants, who are racing ahead in the field of artificial intelligence, Europe is hoping to catch up and put its own technological strengths to good use. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)