The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC) has selected seven proposals to establish the first AI Factories in Europe, marking a significant step towards building an ecosystem for advanced AI development. This initiative involves a €1.5 billion investment, half of which will be funded by the EU through the Digital Europe Programme and Horizon Europe.
These AI Factories will integrate essential components for AI success: computing power, data, and talent. They will provide the significant computing resources startups, industries, and researchers need to create large European language models and specialised vertical AI solutions focusing on specific sectors or domains. The facilities are expected to enhance EuroHPC’s computing capacity and will be deployed in 2025-2026.
“Today we are one step closer to setting up AI Factories. Using European supercomputers, we will enable AI start-ups to innovate and scale up. Now we are ready to lead with the right infrastructure in our ambition for the EU to become the AI continent. We are on track to make the AI factories initiative a reality in the first 100 days of the new European Commission. We expect a second wave of offers on 1 February”, declared Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.
The newly selected AI Factories will be located at leading research and technology hubs across Europe: Barcelona, Spain: “BSC AIF” at the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre; Bologna, Italy: “IT4LIA” at CINECA – Bologna Tecnopolo; Kajaani, Finland: “LUMI AIF” at CSC; Bissen, Luxembourg: “Meluxina-AI” at LuxProvide; Linköping, Sweden: “MIMER” at the University of Linköping; Stuttgart, Germany: “HammerHAI” at the University of Stuttgart, and Athens, Greece: “Pharos” at GRNET.
These AI Factories will involve 15 Member States and two EuroHPC participating States. Notably, Portugal, Romania, and Türkiye will join the BSC AIF. At the same time, Austria and Slovenia will participate in ITA4LIA, and the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Norway, and Poland will be part of the LUMI AIF.
Five locations will deploy new AI-optimised supercomputers, with Spain upgrading its existing MareNostrum 5 system. The AI Factory in Greece will be associated with the upcoming DAEDALUS supercomputer. The Spanish and Finnish AI Factories will also include experimental platforms to support the development of innovative AI models and foster European collaboration.
Other Member States can submit proposals to join or establish new AI Factories by 1 February 2025.
