The European Commission has announced plans to establish five next-generation data centers that will form the backbone of an AI gigafactory network. This initiative aims to enhance the EU’s competitiveness in artificial intelligence, particularly in comparison to China and the US.
This is reported by Finway
EU Goals and Plans
According to the WSJ, the new facilities will be equipped with 100,000 chips each, which is four times the number of chips in existing factories. Additionally, centralized data laboratories are planned to provide companies with the ability to securely train their models on large volumes of data. This will help scale European AI solutions without violating the EU’s strict personal data protection requirements.
Investment and Business Support
A key element of the program will be attracting private investment. Investors have already pledged to allocate €150 billion, along with an additional €20 billion for the construction of AI gigafactories from a specially created fund. Overall, the EU plans to attract over €200 billion in the coming years to implement its initiatives.
The European Commission also plans to launch a support service for companies to help them adapt to new legislative norms in the field of AI. It is known that the EU has already adopted some of the strictest regulations in the world regarding artificial intelligence, including a ban on dangerous applications and requirements for risk assessments.
The application of public-private partnerships in the implementation of these projects will allow the involvement of companies that have already expressed interest in joint initiatives.
The EU aims to triple the capacity of its data centers over the next 5-7 years to create a competitive environment for AI development and keep pace with US initiatives, particularly their Stargate project. Another challenge for the EU is China, which is actively developing its solutions in this area.
“We reported that nine AI startups from the US have already raised over $100 million each since the beginning of the year.”