The European Union has officially launched a massive initiative to create seven computing hubs for training artificial intelligence models. The total funding for these AI “gigafactories” from public and private institutions could reach €30 billion.
The European Union has officially launched a massive initiative to create seven computing hubs for training artificial intelligence models. The total funding for these AI “gigafactories” from public and private institutions could reach €30 billion.
This was reported by POLITICO, citing representatives of the European Commission.
The project involves the construction of three large data centers, each equipped with 40,000 to 100,000 specialized AI chips, and four smaller hubs with 25,000 to 75,000 chips. Germany, Greece, Portugal, Italy and Spain have already supported the creation of large centers, while the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France and Poland will compete for smaller projects.
The European Commission plans to select the winners of the tender early next year. After that, the consortiums of companies will have 18 months to build the facilities. State funding will not exceed 35% of the total investment: smaller projects will be able to receive up to €1 billion from the budget, and large ones - up to €2 billion.
A senior European Commission official described it as “the largest public-private partnership” to provide the industry with the necessary resources. He also dismissed criticism of the feasibility of such investments, stressing that the current infrastructure is already “oversupplied with demand.”
A separate challenge for developers will be overcoming local resistance due to the significant electricity and water consumption of modern data centers. “We require bidders to document how they intend to implement this technology in a sustainable and energy-efficient manner,” the official emphasized.
