The EU has issued a call for tenders to set up up to seven AI Gigafactories across Europe, aiming to boost technological sovereignty and make Europe the AI Continent.
With industry leadership and up to €10 billion in EU and national funding, this effort is projected to draw at least €20 billion in private investment throughout the Union. It will enhance Europe’s AI computing power, providing start-ups, SMEs, industry, academia, and public authorities with access to infrastructure for advanced AI model training, inference, and fine-tuning.
The AI Gigafactories will integrate advanced AI processors, software, cloud technology stacks, high-speed connectivity, and energy-efficient data centers. Alongside Europe’s 19 AI Factories, they will bolster Europe’s tech leadership, resilience, and strategic autonomy.
This initiative ensures Europe can develop advanced AI on its infrastructure, adhering to EU regulations and values. AI technologies from these Gigafactories will meet EU standards for data protection, safety, security, and ethics.
Eligible Applicants
Consortia or Special Purpose Vehicles, composed of companies, public entities, investors, and other partners, are eligible to apply.
AI Gigafactories can be established in a single Member State, either at a single site or across multiple locations, and may involve cross-border developments through distributed AI computing facilities.
Proposals will be competitively evaluated to select successful projects.
Funding and Scale
The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) and Member States will jointly procure compute access time from selected AI Gigafactories. Eighteen countries have signed a joint procurement agreement with EuroHPC JU: Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden. The procurement will support up to seven AI Gigafactories across two development phases and two lots, with participating Member States matching EU funding. Public funding acts as a catalyst, driving private investment to construct and operate these facilities.
The first lot will support up to four projects, each eligible for up to €100 million in EU funding in phase one and an additional €400 million per project in phase two. Each Gigafactory must deploy at least as many advanced AI processors as Europe’s most powerful AI factory. In phase two, capacity must triple. The second lot will support up to three projects, each eligible for up to €200 million in EU funding in phase one and an additional €800 million per project in phase two. Each Gigafactory must deploy twice as many advanced AI processors as Europe’s most powerful AI factory. In phase two, capacity must quadruple.
Hardware for the AI Continent
Advanced AI requires specialized computing hardware. As global AI adoption rises, access to large-scale sovereign AI infrastructure becomes crucial for Europe’s industrial competitiveness and technological sovereignty.
AI Gigafactory consortia may procure hardware during either development phase from providers in Europe or likeminded nations. This procurement may involve European start-ups and scale-ups, with AI Gigafactories strengthening the European digital supply chain. Following an EU-US trade deal, the Commission has signed letters of intent with major US hardware providers, AMD, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm, ensuring consortia have seamless hardware access.
Next Steps
The call closes on 12 November 2026.
Following an evaluation by EuroHPC JU, award decisions are expected by early 2027. Framework and specific contracts will then be signed to begin construction in 2027.
Selected AI Gigafactories should start operating within 18 months of the contract signing.
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