EU Unveils AI Continent Action Plan With Massive Infrastructure Investments
The European Commission adopts a new AI Continent Action Plan to make Europe a global AI leader, backed by tens of billions of euros in computing and cloud infrastructure investments.
The European Commission adopts the AI Continent Action Plan, a comprehensive strategy designed to transform the EU into a global leader in artificial intelligence. This initiative focuses on fostering innovation, ensuring trustworthy AI, and enhancing economic competitiveness while actively safeguarding democratic values and cultural diversity across member states.
A central pillar of the plan involves massive financial commitments to build AI infrastructure, including a €10 billion investment in AI Factories. This funding supports the deployment of nine new AI-optimized supercomputers and upgrades to existing systems, with 13 selected AI Factories set to be fully operational and networked by the end of 2025. Additionally, the EU plans to mobilize €20 billion for up to five AI Gigafactories, which are large-scale facilities equipped with over 100,000 advanced AI processors to train complex models.
To support this hardware expansion, the Commission announces plans for a Cloud and AI Development Act in late 2025 or early 2026. This upcoming legislation aims to triple the EU's data centre capacity within five to seven years by streamlining permitting processes and resolving energy access obstacles for resource-efficient projects, ultimately reducing the bloc's dependence on non-EU digital infrastructure.