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The EU has revealed details of an ambitious Action Plan that includes €20 billion (about USD 22.5 billion) investment in building five AI gigafactories and developing the next generation of AI models as Europe attempts to catch up with the US and China in the race for global AI leadership. To stimulate private sector investment in cloud capacity and data centres, the European Commission will also propose a Cloud and AI Development Act, the Commission said in a media release.
The goal is to at least triple the EU’s data centre capacity in the next five to seven years, prioritising highly sustainable data centres. When it comes to AI, the US is far ahead of both China and Europe. According to a report from Stanford University, quoted by The Guardian , 40 “notable AI models” were produced by institutions in the US last year, compared with 15 in China and three in Europe.
As part of the new initiative, the European Commission has pledged to create a network of AI factories along with the five AI gigafactories. The latter will be large-scale facilities equipped with approximately 100,000 state-of-the-art AI chips, four times more than current AI factories, the media release said. Private investment in five gigafactories will be further stimulated through the InvestAI, which will mobilise €20 billion investment for the purpose.
Other important elements of the Action Plan include the creation of Data Labs, to bring together large, high-quality data volumes from different sources in AI factories; developing algorithms and fostering AI adoption in strategic EU sectors; enhancing the AI workforce and talent pool; and launching the AI Act Service Desk, to help businesses comply with the AI Act..
