The President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced at the Artificial Intelligence Summit in Paris that the EU wants to mobilize 200 billion euros for investments in artificial intelligence in Europe, including a new European fund of 20 billion euros for “AI gigafactories.”
During her speech at the Artificial Intelligence Summit, Ursula von der Leyen praised the European “AI Champions” Initiative, which promises 150 billion euros from providers, investors, and industry, along with the new “Invest AI” initiative which promises 50 billion euros, totaling 200 billion euros for artificial intelligence investments in Europe. “We will focus on industrial and critical applications. It will be the world’s largest public-private partnership for the development of trusted artificial intelligence,” said the President of the Commission.
“Artificial Intelligence will improve our healthcare, boost our research and innovation, and enhance our competitiveness,” said Ursula von der Leyen, noting that, together with our member states and partners, we will mobilize unprecedented funds through InvestAI for European artificial intelligence gigafactories. She also noted that this unique public-private partnership, similar to CERN, for artificial intelligence will allow all scientists and companies to develop the most advanced very large models needed “to make Europe a continent of artificial intelligence.” The President of the Commission emphasized that “artificial intelligence can be a gift to humanity, but at the same time we must ensure that the benefits are widely disseminated and accessible to all.”
Specifically, according to today’s announcement from the Commission, the EU’s InvestAI fund will finance four future artificial intelligence gigafactories across the entire EU. The new AI gigafactories will specialize in training the most complex, very large artificial intelligence models. Such next-generation models require extensive computing infrastructure for discoveries in specific fields, such as medicine or science. The gigafactories will have about 100,000 cutting-edge AI chips, approximately four times more than the AI factories being created currently.
The gigafactories funded through InvestAI will be the world’s largest public-private partnership for the development of trusted artificial intelligence. They will serve the European model of collaborative, open innovation, focusing on complex industrial applications and mission-critical applications. The goal is for every company, not just the biggest players, to have access to large-scale computing power to build the future.
InvestAI will include a multi-layered fund, with different risk and return profiles. The EU budget would limit the investments of other partners. The Commission’s initial funding for InvestAI will come from existing EU financial programs that have a digital component, such as the “Digital Europe” program and the “Horizon Europe” program and InvestEU.
Member states can also contribute by programming their cohesion funds. The funding of artificial intelligence gigafactories with a combination of grants and equity will serve as one of the pilot cases for strategic technologies announced under the “Competitiveness Compass.”
The Commission has already announced the first seven artificial intelligence factories in December and will soon announce the next five. The existing support for AI factories amounting to 10 billion euros, co-funded by the EU and member states, already constitutes the world’s largest public investment in AI and will unlock more than ten times more private investments. It already provides massive access for startups and industry to supercomputers. (11/2/2025)
