Europe has made a giant leap to reinforce its position in the global AI race. The recent announcement of the first AI Factories by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) shed light on the seven consortia which will house an AI Factory at some of the most sophisticated research and technology hubs across Europe. These sites will be an investment of €1.5 billion, half of which is being funded by the EU through the Digital Europe Programme and Horizon Europe. Barcelona, Bologna, Kajaani, Bissen, Linköping, Stuttgart, and Athens are all going to be powerhouses for AI development, with state-of-the-art infrastructure, stimulating innovation.
Of these, five will host new supercomputers optimised for AI, and the sites in Spain and Finland will also host experimental platforms for testing new AI models and applications. These factories are due to be deployed between 2025 and 2026 and will at least double EuroHPC's computing capacity, creating a fertile ground for collaboration between researchers, industry, and policymakers.
Why the AI Factories Matter
The AI Factories will aggregate three key drivers of excellence in AI: computing power, data, and talent. This will be pivotal in driving Europe's lead role in the development of large-scale AI models, including European large language models and AI for healthcare, manufacturing, and green technologies.
Beyond technical capacity, the project is a statement of inclusion and innovation. It will ultimately provide startups, SMEs, and researchers with the resources that will help them scale up their solutions to encourage growth in key areas like life sciences, climate modelling, and cybersecurity. These efforts are a direct reflection of DIGITAL's broader goals: improving industrial competitiveness, enabling a green economy, and attaining technological sovereignty.
A Perfect Fit with DEDEP.eu's Mission
DEDEP.eu operates as a strategic framework designed to amplify the impact of DIGITAL projects by providing tools, guidance and structured approach for D&E activities. As highlighted in our first DEDEP.eu webinar, this framework is essential for bridging the gap between technological advancement and practical applications. By mapping successful practices, coordinating pilot initiatives and fostering ongoing engagement with beneficiaries — such as projects establishing the AI Factories and the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) — DEDEP.eu strengthens collaboration between providers, researchers, users, policymakers and industry leaders. This ensures that innovations generated through DIGITAL investments are not only disseminated but actively adopted, delivering long-term societal and economic benefits.
The AI Factories initiative, through its focus on state-of-the-art infrastructure, complements DEDEP.eu’s mission by creating fertile ecosystems for innovation. These AI hubs will aggregate computing power, data and talent to drive large-scale AI models and applications, particularly in sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing and green technologies. In parallel, DEDEP.eu will be working to ensure that the services and results delivered by these hubs are effectively communicated, shared, and exploited across Europe, reinforcing DIGITAL’s objectives of technological sovereignty, resilience and industrial competitiveness.
Furthermore, DEDEP.eu addresses the complexity of DIGITAL by reinforcing cross-programme synergies with initiatives like Horizon Europe. This approach helps avoid duplication of efforts and fosters collaboration across digital, scientific, and business domains. AI Factories are a prime example of how DIGITAL's investments can leverage existing supercomputing assets, such as LUMI in Finland and JUPITER, Europe’s first exascale machine, to create tangible impacts. These infrastructure projects represent Europe’s ambition to lead in supercomputing and AI, and DEDEP.eu is working to devise structured supporting dissemination and exploitation activities to harness their potential.
