The European Union has launched a call for proposals to establish up to seven AI Gigafactories across Europe, backed by up to €10 billion in EU and national funding. The initiative aims to strengthen Europe’s AI capabilities and attract at least €20 billion in private investment.

The new facilities will provide advanced computing infrastructure for training, testing and deploying cutting-edge artificial intelligence models. They will be available to start-ups, scale-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises, industry, researchers and public authorities, helping expand Europe’s AI computing capacity.

The AI Gigafactories will combine high-performance AI processors, cloud technologies, software platforms, high-speed connectivity and energy-efficient data centres. Together with the EU’s existing network of 19 AI Factories, they are intended to boost Europe’s technological sovereignty and reduce dependence on foreign AI infrastructure.

The programme is open to consortia and special purpose vehicles bringing together companies, public bodies, investors and other partners. Projects may be located in one or several EU Member States, including cross-border facilities.

The initiative will support up to seven projects in two phases. Depending on their scale, selected projects will be eligible for between €500 million and €1 billion in combined EU funding across both phases, with participating Member States providing matching contributions. Eighteen Member States have already joined the joint procurement initiative coordinated by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU).

To support the rollout, the European Commission has also signed letters of intent with AMD, NVIDIA and Qualcomm, aiming to ensure access to the advanced hardware needed for the new facilities.

The call for proposals closes on 12 November 2026, with successful projects expected to be selected in early 2027. Construction is scheduled to begin later that year, and the first AI Gigafactories are expected to become operational within 18 months of signing their contracts.