The European Union has launched a call for tenders to establish up to seven AI Gigafactories across Europe, advancing its goal of strengthening technological sovereignty and becoming a leading AI continent.
The industry-led initiative will receive up to €10 billion in funding from the EU and participating Member States. The public funding is expected to unlock at least €20 billion in private investment, bringing the initiative’s anticipated total investment to more than €30 billion.
The facilities will provide start-ups, scale-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises, large companies, academic institutions and public authorities with infrastructure for training, fine-tuning and running advanced frontier AI models.
Each AI Gigafactory will combine advanced AI processors, software and cloud technology, high-speed connectivity and energy-efficient data centers. The facilities will complement Europe’s network of 19 AI Factories and strengthen the region’s computing capacity, resilience and strategic autonomy.
Consortia and special-purpose vehicles comprising companies, investors, public entities and other partners are eligible to apply. Projects may be developed within one Member State, distributed across several sites or established as cross-border facilities involving multiple countries.
The procurement process is divided into two lots and two development phases. The first lot will support up to four projects, with each eligible for up to €100 million in EU funding during the first phase and an additional €400 million during the second phase.
Projects selected under the first lot must initially deploy at least as many advanced AI processors as Europe’s most powerful existing AI Factory. Their capacity must increase to at least three times that level during the second phase.
The second lot will support up to three projects, with each eligible for up to €200 million during the first phase and another €800 million during the second phase. These facilities may initially deploy up to twice the advanced processor capacity of Europe’s most powerful AI Factory before expanding to at least four times that level.
The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking and participating Member States will jointly procure access to computing time from the selected facilities. Eighteen Member States have entered into the related joint procurement agreement and will match EU funding.
Consortia may purchase hardware from providers in Europe or other like-minded countries. The European Commission has also signed letters of intent with AMD, NVIDIA and Qualcomm to help participating projects obtain the necessary computing hardware.
The application period closes on November 12, 2026. Award decisions are expected in early 2027, with construction scheduled to begin later that year. Selected AI Gigafactories must begin operating within 18 months after their contracts are signed.
