The EU body overseeing the Commission’s plan to repurpose the bloc’s supercomputing capacity for AI training – via so-called AI Factories – has selected six new projects.
The new sites will be deployed from 2026 in Czechia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania, the EuroHPC joint-undertaking announced in a press release. The two other additional AI Factories announced today will be based in the Netherlands and Spain.
The EU’s aim with the AI Factories is to spin up AI training facilities equipped with up to 25,000 advanced AI chips, as part of efforts to democratise access to AI compute for businesses around the bloc.
Out of the 13 AI Factories projects selected in December 2024 and March 2025, only three sites were located in former communist countries: Poland, Bulgaria and Slovenia.
Romania was also selected in the December 2024 round, although the corresponding AI Factory is located in Barcelona, Spain – which already hosts the MareNostrum supercomputer.
Likewise, Estonia and Czechia have been associated members of an AI Factory since December 2024 that is based in Kajaani, Finland (which hosts the Lumi supercomputer).
The Commission and the Council are currently preparing amendments to the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, which governs supercomputer procurement, to pave the way for the construction of up to five AI Gigafactories.
These additional planned AI training hubs are focused on very large AI models – each equipped with up to four times more AI chips than existing AI Factories. But – currently – EU countries are stalling on key funding questions.
(nl)
