The EU has launched a call for tenders to fund up to seven AI Gigafactories to train AI technologies as part of a greater bid for European tech sovereignty.
The term Gigafactory was spun out of Tesla’s own massive electric vehicle battery plant, which the EU will adapt to produce advanced AI processors, software and cloud technology stacks, high-speed connectivity, and energy-efficient data centres.
On top of its existing network of 19 AI Factories, the EU initiative aims to develop advanced own AI infrastructure, which commissioner Henna Virkkunen said on Thursday (30 July) was “key to our technological sovereignty.”
Brussels pledged €10bn in funding, of which €4bn was expected to come from an inconclusive next multi-annual budget, and which was to be matched by at least €20bn in EU-based private tenders to get the centres up and running.
“It’s going to be one of the biggest, if it’s not the largest, public-private partnership that will be put in place in the European Union,” a commission official told press on Thursday.
