EU Seeks 7 AI Gigafactories to Unlock €30 Billion as Sovereignty Drive Deepens

3 articles · Updated · storagenewsletter.com · Aug 18

Up to seven AI Gigafactories are now open for bids across the EU, with the bloc aiming to pair as much as €10 billion in public support with at least €20 billion in private investment.
The facilities are meant to expand sovereign AI computing for training, inference and fine-tuning, giving start-ups, SMEs, industry, academia and public bodies access to advanced processors, cloud stacks, fast networks and energy-efficient data centres.
Eighteen member states have joined the joint procurement scheme through EuroHPC, which will fund up to four smaller projects and three larger ones in two phases, with capacity targets reaching three to four times Europe’s current top AI factory.
AMD, Nvidia and Qualcomm have signed letters of intent to help secure hardware, underscoring that the sovereignty push still relies on major US chip suppliers in the near term.
Bids close on 12 November 2026, awards are due in early 2027 and selected sites are expected to start operating within 18 months of contract signing.