A startup in Krakow or a research laboratory in Valencia that wants to train its own artificial intelligence model today rents computing power from American cloud giants — or doesn't pursue large models at all because it's too expensive. The European Commission wants to change this: on Thursday, it announced the allocation of 10 billion euros for the construction of seven AI "gigafactories" in countries of the bloc.
The money is designed to attract even more — at least 20 billion euros in private investment. Together, this is almost 30 billion euros aimed at reducing the EU's technological dependence on the United States and China.
"Access to large-scale AI computing capacity through AI Gigafactories is a strategic necessity for Europe in the context of accelerating artificial intelligence development," said Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.
What business and scientists will specifically receive
The new "gigafactories" will provide startups, companies, scientific institutions and government bodies with infrastructure for training, fine-tuning and using advanced AI models. They will combine modern AI processors, software, cloud technologies, high-speed networks and energy-efficient data centers — that is, a complete stack that European developers are currently forced to assemble in pieces from various suppliers, mostly non-European.
Consortiums or specially created companies that bring together business, government institutions, investors and other partners can submit applications. Gigafactories can be located in a single EU country or operate simultaneously in several member states — this removes a barrier for smaller countries that could not handle such a project on their own.
Funding will be divided into two tiers
Financing will be implemented in two stages and two categories. The first covers up to four projects with support of up to 100 million euros at the start and another up to 400 million euros in the second stage. The second covers up to three larger projects, where the first tranche reaches 200 million euros and the second up to 800 million euros.
Participation in joint procurement has already been confirmed by 18 EU member states, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Sweden. Applications will be accepted until November 12, 2026, winners will be determined in early 2027, after which construction will begin. The facilities are planned to be put into operation no later than 18 months after contract signing — that is, approximately by mid-2028.
Why the stakes for ordinary people are higher than they seem
The difference between "having access to computing power at home" and "renting it abroad" is the difference between whether a European hospital, bank or university controls the data on which the model is trained or not. For a startup developer, it's also a matter of entry price: without its own infrastructure, training large models remains accessible only to those who can afford the tariffs of American or Chinese cloud providers.
But the time gap isn't going away. While the first gigafactories start operating — earliest in 2028 — American and Chinese companies will continue to increase their capacity every year. The question is not whether the EU will build the infrastructure, but whether it will be competitive by the time of launch, or whether it will immediately be a step behind.
