EU Receives 76 Bids for AI Gigafactories Across 16 States

The European Commission has received 76 expressions of interest from companies across 16 EU member states to develop AI gigafactories, significantly surpassing expectations and showcasing Europe's growing momentum in AI innovation. These proposed facilities, planned at around 60 sites, aim to be large-scale AI computing and data storage hubs equipped with approximately 100,000 state-of-the-art AI chips each, supporting the training of advanced AI models. The initiative, part of the EU's InvestAI fund with €20 billion earmarked for four to five gigafactories, involves a diverse range of stakeholders including European and non-European tech firms, data center operators, telecom providers, energy suppliers, and financial investors. Collectively, respondents plan to acquire at least three million latest-generation GPUs, indicating substantial investment readiness of over €230 billion, although not all proposals are expected to materialize. The AI gigafactories are central to the EU's AI Continent Action Plan and will leverage Europe's EuroHPC supercomputing network to strengthen digital infrastructure and competitiveness against global leaders like the US and China. The Commission will engage further with applicants and member states before issuing a formal call for proposals later this year.