The European Commission has opened a call for tenders to establish up to seven AI Gigafactories across Europe, marking a significant step in its ambition to strengthen the region’s AI capabilities and technological independence.
The initiative, delivered through the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), is backed by up to €10bn in combined EU and national funding and is expected to attract at least €20bn in private investment.
The new facilities will provide the large-scale computing infrastructure needed to develop next-generation AI models while supporting businesses, researchers and public organisations across Europe.
Designed to complement Europe’s existing network of 19 AI Factories, the AI Gigafactories will dramatically expand access to advanced AI computing resources, helping Europe develop cutting-edge AI systems using infrastructure built and operated within the region under EU standards for security, ethics and data protection.
Commenting on the landmark investment, Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, said: “The opening of the AI Gigafactories call represents a milestone in our AI Continent ambitions.
“Access to the raw scale of computing power within AI Gigafactories is a strategic necessity for Europe as AI development accelerates. I am pleased to see Member States, industry and the Commission coming together to work on these facilities that are key to our technological sovereignty.”
AI Gigafactories to strengthen Europe’s AI infrastructure
The new AI Gigafactories will combine advanced AI processors with cloud technology, high-performance software stacks, high-speed connectivity and energy-efficient data centres.
Together, these capabilities will support the training, inference and fine-tuning of frontier AI models at unprecedented scale.
The Commission says the facilities will play a central role in improving Europe’s technological sovereignty by ensuring advanced AI systems can be developed using European infrastructure rather than relying on overseas computing capacity.
Access to the infrastructure will be available to a broad range of users, including start-ups, scale-ups, SMEs, industrial organisations, universities, research institutes and public authorities.
Two-phase funding programme
The procurement programme will support up to seven AI Gigafactories through two funding lots and two development phases.
The first lot will fund up to four projects. Successful applicants can receive up to €100m in EU funding during phase one, followed by up to €400m in phase two.
These facilities must initially deploy at least as many advanced AI processors as Europe’s current largest AI Factory before expanding capacity to at least three times that level.
The second lot will support up to three larger projects. Each may receive up to €200m in phase one and a further €800m in phase two.
These Gigafactories will begin with up to twice the computing power of Europe’s current leading AI Factory and later expand to at least four times that capacity.
Public investment is intended to reduce financial risk and encourage substantial private sector investment needed to build and operate the large-scale facilities.
Consortium applications now open
Applications are open to consortia or Special Purpose Vehicles bringing together businesses, investors, public bodies and other partners.
Projects may be located within a single EU Member State, either at one site or across multiple locations, while cross-border proposals involving distributed computing facilities in several Member States are also eligible.
The European Commission expects the competitive selection process to identify projects capable of delivering world-class AI computing infrastructure while supporting Europe’s wider digital economy.
Broad support from participating Member States
The procurement process is being jointly managed by the EuroHPC JU and participating Member States, which will purchase computing access from the selected AI Gigafactories once operational.
Eighteen countries have signed the joint procurement agreement: Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden.
This coordinated approach is intended to maximise shared investment while ensuring participating countries gain access to the computing capacity needed to accelerate AI research and innovation.
Hardware partnerships support deployment
Recognising that advanced AI depends on specialised computing hardware, the Commission confirmed that successful consortia will be able to source processors and related technology from suppliers based in Europe and other like-minded countries.
Part of the procurement process may also be reserved for European start-ups and scale-ups, helping strengthen the continent’s AI supply chain.
In addition, following the recent EU-US trade agreement, the Commission has signed letters of intent with AMD, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm to help ensure selected projects have reliable access to the advanced hardware required to build the facilities.
Construction targeted for 2027
The call for proposals closes on 12 November 2026.
Following evaluation by the EuroHPC JU, funding decisions are expected in early 2027, with framework agreements and contracts due to be signed shortly afterwards.
Construction is scheduled to begin during 2027, while the selected AI Gigafactories are expected to become operational within 18 months of contract signature.
By significantly expanding Europe’s sovereign AI computing capacity, the initiative aims to provide the infrastructure needed to support the next generation of AI innovation while reinforcing the EU’s long-term competitiveness in the global AI race.
