The bottom line: The EU is building a decentralized network of high-performance AI data centers to reduce dependence on American and Chinese providers and secure European sovereignty in AI development.
The EU Commission has launched a call for proposals for up to seven AI gigafactories in Europe. With up to 10 billion euros in public funds, the initiative aims to mobilize at least 20 billion euros in private investment.
The European Union has launched a call for proposals for the establishment of up to seven AI gigafactories. These large-scale facilities will serve as central infrastructure for Europe’s independent development of advanced AI models. The initiative combines specialized AI processors, cloud technology stacks, high-performance networking, and energy-efficient data centers at a single location.
Public funding amounts to up to 10 billion euros from EU and national sources, which is estimated to unlock at least 20 billion euros in private investment, bringing the total to over 30 billion euros. Startups, scale-ups, SMEs, industrial enterprises, research institutions, and public authorities will have access to this infrastructure for training, inference, and fine-tuning of advanced AI models. Together with Europe’s existing network of 19 AI factories, this initiative is intended to strengthen Europe’s technological leadership position.
The AI gigafactories enable Europe to develop advanced AI systems on its own infrastructure while complying with European legal standards in the areas of data protection, security, and ethics. This underscores the goal of technological sovereignty and reduces dependence on non-European providers for the provision of critical AI computing resources.
Source: digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu · Published 30 July 2026
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