The European Research Ministers adopted, on Tuesday 9 December in Brussels, their negotiating position (‘general approach’) on the revision of the regulation defining the framework for the activities of the European High-Performance Computing (EuroHPC) Joint Undertaking.
The Danish minister, Christina Egelund, explained in the public session that the aim of this revision was to support the creation of large-scale AI Gigafactories and to establish a quantum pillar as part of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. She said that these Gigafactories were “essential for Europe to be able to compete on a global level and to ensure its strategic autonomy in science and in critical industrial sectors”. She stressed that “quantum technologies also covered under EuroHPC are the next major technological revolution in critical areas such as computing, communication and sensors”.
In particular, the regulation will enable public-private partnerships to be set up to mobilise funds to develop these technologies. “Today, most new technologies in AI are heavily dependent on infrastructure owned and operated by American tech giants”, regretted the minister.
“Now what’s crucial is effective, timely and smooth implementation. We are awaiting the publication of the first call for the AI Gigafactories in Europe, and we trust this will happen in January next year as announced by the Commission”, said the Polish Minister, Andrzej Szeptycki. “Clarifications on State aid are necessary”.
To read the general approach: https://aeur.eu/f/jwh (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)