The European Commission has officially announced the launch of a large-scale initiative to create a network of seven AI gigafactories in the European Union. EC President Ursula von der Leyen stressed that this strategy is aimed at turning Europe into the "first continent of artificial intelligence" and strengthening technological sovereignty in the face of global competition. The financing of the project provides for the allocation of up to ten billion euros from joint funds of the European Union and the participating countries, while it is expected to attract at least twenty billion euros of private investment. The initiative aims to provide critical computing power for the development of advanced artificial intelligence models in medicine, the transportation sector and other key sectors of the economy.

The infrastructure development competition will be organized by the EuroHPC JU joint venture and divided into two financing stages. The first stage will cover up to four projects with support of up to five hundred million euros each, while the second stage will provide up to one billion euros for three larger initiatives. To provide future centers with the necessary equipment, the European Commission has already signed letters of intent with leading American semiconductor manufacturers: NVIDIA, AMD and Qualcomm. At the same time, the winning consortia will retain the right to purchase components from European manufacturers or companies from friendly jurisdictions. Eighteen countries have joined the joint procurement agreement so far, including Germany, France, Italy and Poland.

Applications for participation in the competition will be accepted until November 12, 2026, and the winners are scheduled to be determined in early 2027. The launch of the first facilities is expected within eighteen months after the signing of the relevant contracts. Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice President of the European Commission, described this competition as a strategic necessity to ensure access to computing resources of the required scale.