EU Launches €30 Billion Plan to Build Seven AI Gigafactories

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – The European Commission has launched a call for proposals to establish up to seven artificial intelligence (AI) gigafactories across European Union member states as part of a €30 billion initiative aimed at strengthening Europe's AI infrastructure and computing capacity.

The programme is expected to mobilise more than €30 billion in combined public and private investment to support the development of advanced AI models and reinforce the bloc's competitiveness in artificial intelligence.

Public and Private Investment

Under the initiative, the European Commission plans to provide up to €10 billion in European and national funding, with the objective of attracting at least €20 billion in additional private investment.

The planned AI gigafactories will provide advanced computing infrastructure for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups, research centres, universities and public administrations, enabling them to develop, train and operate next-generation artificial intelligence systems.

The Commission has invited consortia comprising companies, public institutions and investors to submit proposals.

Projects may be located within a single EU member state or span multiple countries, with all applications to be assessed through a competitive evaluation process based on the European Commission's selection criteria.

Funding will be administered through the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), which includes 18 participating countries, including Spain. The organisation will jointly procure computing capacity from the selected AI gigafactories.

Two Funding Streams Available

The initiative includes two financing tracks.

The first provides EU funding of up to €500 million for each AI gigafactory, while the second offers up to €1 billion per project, to be distributed across the two planned development phases.

In a related announcement, the European Commission confirmed the signing of letters of intent with major US technology companies AMD, NVIDIA and Qualcomm to facilitate access to advanced AI computing components and hardware for selected project consortia.

The agreement follows the recently concluded trade agreement between the European Union and the United States.

Applications Open Until November

The application process will remain open until 12 November 2026, with final funding decisions expected in early 2027.

Construction of the first AI gigafactories is expected to begin later in 2027.