The European Union unveiled a 10 billion euro ($11.4 billion) plan to finance the construction of seven artificial intelligence gigafactories, a strategic push to narrow the widening technology gap with the United States and China.
The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, announced the funding on Thursday and said it hopes the public investment will attract an additional 20 billion euros ($22.8 billion) in private capital. Firms can now bid for contracts to build the facilities, each planned to house at least 100,000 cutting-edge AI chips.
Such installations would be roughly four times more powerful than the data centers currently operating across the 27-nation bloc. The EU’s existing computing capacity, delivered through a network of 19 AI data centers stretching from Finland to Spain, would more than double once the seven gigafactories come online.
“Access to the raw scale of computing power within AI gigafactories is a strategic necessity for Europe as AI development accelerates,” said Henna Virkkunen, the Commission executive vice president overseeing tech sovereignty.
The drive to establish so-called tech sovereignty has taken on new urgency as European leaders voice concern over dependence on foreign technology providers, warning that such reliance could be “weaponized” against the continent. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the EU over its technology regulations, while China has restricted the supply of minerals critical to the semiconductor and AI sectors.
Europe continues to trail both rivals in areas central to AI development. A 2025 assessment by the U.S. Federal Reserve found that China commands enormous electrical power capacity for data centers, while the United States captures the largest share of private AI investment.
Structural hurdles compound the challenge. Europe manufactures few of the millions of components required for data centers, and electricity in the bloc can cost double or triple what it does in the United States.
The gigafactory initiative builds on earlier commitments from Brussels to rebuild the continent’s competitiveness in advanced computing, part of a broader effort to reduce reliance on imported chips and infrastructure.
The project is expected to reshape Europe’s computing landscape over the coming years, though officials have not confirmed a completion timeline. With bidding now open, the Commission will assess proposals as it seeks to translate public financing into large-scale industrial capacity.