On Thursday 30 July, the European Commission launched a call for tenders aimed at creating up to seven high-performance computing centres for artificial intelligence (‘AI Gigafactories’) across Europe. Backed by up to €10 billion in European and national funding, the initiative is expected to unlock at least €20 billion in private investment across the Union.
The aim is to enable Europe to develop advanced artificial intelligence (AI) on its own infrastructure, with technologies that comply with EU standards “on data protection, safety, security, and ethics”.
18 Member States have signed a joint procurement agreement with the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking EuroHPC: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden.
The call for tenders, which closes on 12 November, is open to consortia or ad hoc entities bringing together, in particular, companies, public entities, and investors. The ‘AI Gigafactories’ may be established in a single Member State, either on a single site or on several sites. They may also include cross-border developments in several Member States through distributed AI computing facilities. Eligible countries are EU Member States and countries sharing the same values, and the infrastructure will have to be installed in an EU country.
Following an evaluation process managed by EuroHPC, award decisions are expected to be taken in early 2027. The necessary framework and specific contracts will then be signed to allow construction to begin in 2027. The ‘AI Gigafactories’ selected are expected to start operating within a maximum of 18 months from signature.
Two lots are open under the call for tenders. The first will support up to four projects, each eligible for EU funding of up to €100 million during the first phase and up to an additional €400 million per project during the second phase.
Each selected ‘gigafactory’ will have to deploy at least as many of the most advanced AI processors as are currently installed in Europe’s most powerful AI factory (25,000 high-performance processors). During the second phase, capacity must reach at least three times that level (75,000 high-performance processors).
For this first lot, the participating countries are the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France and Poland, and the contributing countries are Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Sweden.
The second lot will support up to three projects, each eligible for EU funding of up to €200 million during the first phase and an additional amount of €800 million per project during the second phase.
Each ‘gigafactory’ selected under this lot must deploy up to twice as many of the most advanced AI processors as are currently installed in Europe’s most powerful AI factory. During the second phase, capacity must be increased by at least four times (that is, a minimum of 100,000 high-performance processors, including at least 40,000 in phase 1).
The participating countries are Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.
The ‘AI Gigafactories’ will combine advanced artificial intelligence processors, software stacks and cloud technologies, high-speed connectivity and energy-efficient data centres.
See the call for tenders: https://aeur.eu/f/n2m
France highlights its interest. No sooner had the call for tenders launched than France positioned itself to host a ‘gigafactory’ on its territory. “France is committing alongside the European Union to order a volume of computing capacity worth €100 million for the project that will be selected on French soil, in order to meet the future needs of its public administrations, including those of the research and hospital sectors”, the government stated in a press release.
France will explore partnerships with other European countries in the coming weeks in order to mobilise investments in addition to those it is committed to mobilising, the press release adds. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)