Brussels expects the projects to draw more than EUR 30 billion in total investment, with up to EUR 10 billion coming from EU and national public funds and private consortia expected to cover at least 20 billion euros more.
Poland is among the countries in the running. Warsaw, one of 18 states in the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking that runs the program, is bidding for one of four medium-sized sites on offer.
Deputy Digitalization Minister Dariusz Standerski said in July that the government had pledged more than PLN 400 million (EUR 93 million) in public funding, signed onto the program's procurement agreement, and was lining up private partners for a consortium bid.
The European Commission said its current network of 19 AI factories can no longer keep pace with demand, with supercomputers running at capacity. Officials had originally planned five gigafactories before expanding the number to seven following talks with member states.
The facilities are meant to give businesses, government agencies and researchers access to top-tier AI chips, cloud services and computing power for training and running advanced models, with all data and infrastructure kept under EU jurisdiction and insulated from outside interference.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen framed the plan as central to Europe's ambition to lead in AI development, writing on X that the bloc aims to become "the first AI continent" and describing artificial intelligence as "the most important technology of our time".
Funding will be awarded in two stages: up to four medium-scale projects will each be eligible for as much as EUR 500 million in EU support, while a second round will pick up to three larger projects with EU contributions of as much as EUR 1 billion apiece.
(jh)
Source: PAP