EU, EIB Join Forces to Build Five AI Gigafactories and Boost Tech Sovereignty

The collaboration, formalized in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), commits both institutions to pooling financial and advisory resources to rapidly scale the EU’s computing capacity.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group and the European Commission have announced a landmark partnership to accelerate the creation of up to five AI gigafactories across Europe—large-scale computing hubs capable of training the next generation of advanced artificial intelligence models. The initiative aims to enhance Europe’s technological independence, global competitiveness, and leadership in AI innovation.

The collaboration, formalized in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), commits both institutions to pooling financial and advisory resources to rapidly scale the EU’s computing capacity. These AI gigafactories will serve as critical infrastructure for startups, researchers, and industries that rely on cutting-edge computational power.

“Europe is a technological powerhouse,” said EIB Group President Nadia Calviño. “By supporting the rollout of major AI gigafactories, we scale up computing capacity and create the conditions for innovation to thrive.”

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A New Generation of AI Infrastructure

The gigafactories are being designed to operate at unprecedented scales. Each facility will contain around 100,000 of the world’s most advanced AI chips—four times more than existing European AI factories. This leap in computational capacity will enable breakthroughs in:

• Medical research and drug discovery

• Clean technology and climate modeling

• Space technologies and satellite systems

• Advanced industrial automation

• Large-scale language and multimodal AI models

These next-generation gigafactories will build on the 19 AI factories already under development across Europe with EU support, representing a major expansion of the continent’s digital backbone.

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InvestAI: A €20 Billion Commitment to European AI Leadership

In February 2025, the European Commission launched InvestAI, allocating €20 billion to support the establishment of up to five gigafactories. As part of this partnership:

• The EIB Group will explore loan financing to complement EU grants.

• The goal is to catalyze private investment, reduce innovation bottlenecks, and build the infrastructure needed for Europe’s AI ecosystem to thrive.

• Researchers, SMEs, startups, and major industries will benefit from access to reliable, large-capacity compute environments.

Henna Virkkunen, European Commission Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, highlighted the broader vision: “AI will spur our research and innovation and boost our competitiveness. We will help mobilise unprecedented capital for European AI gigafactories that will enable all our scientists and companies to develop the most advanced, very large models needed to make Europe an AI continent.”

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Advisory Support to Turn Innovation Into Reality

The MoU outlines several areas for deep cooperation, including:

• Advisory support through the InvestEU Advisory Hub

• Improving bankability and investment-readiness of gigafactory proposals

• Technical and financial structuring assistance

• Accelerating the pathway from concept to implementation

This support is designed to ensure that Europe’s AI ambitions translate into viable, fundable projects capable of delivering measurable results.

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Part of Europe’s Broader TechEU Vision

The initiative complements the EIB Group’s flagship TechEU programme, which aims to mobilise €250 billion by 2027 for Europe’s technology ecosystem. TechEU supports:

• Deep-tech and AI startups

• Scaleups needing growth capital

• Strategic technology infrastructure

• Semiconductor and high-performance computing projects

Together, these efforts represent one of Europe’s most ambitious attempts yet to close the global computing and AI gap with other major technology powers.

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A Defining Step Toward Europe’s AI Future

The joint EIB–European Commission effort marks a decisive step toward ensuring Europe has the infrastructure, funding, and governance required to lead in artificial intelligence. With gigafactories becoming the backbone of innovation in medicine, clean energy, industrial automation, and defense, Europe is positioning itself not just to compete—but to help define the future of global AI development.