15/10/2026
The EU wants to accelerate the technological sovereignty of the region and turn Europe into the continent of AI. To achieve this, it is betting on large-scale data centers, specialized in training, fine-tuning, and operating advanced artificial intelligence models.
Advanced technologies and artificial intelligence play a fundamental role in global geoeconomics. We are not only talking about areas of innovation and economic development, but they have also become instruments of power, competitiveness, and strategic autonomy.
The value chain of artificial intelligence is not sustained solely by those who create the models. It is also crucial who produces the semiconductors, who has computing capacity, who has the data, and who has the energy and the necessary infrastructure to sustain the entire system. In this context, the development of the so-called artificial intelligence gigafactories (AI Gigafactories or AIGF) becomes a key element for technological competitiveness and Europe’s strategic autonomy.
What is a gigafactory of artificial intelligence?
An AI Gigafactory is a large-scale computing infrastructure designed to develop, train, fine-tune, and operate advanced artificial intelligence models. Compared to the current AI Factories, these facilities take computing capacity to a much larger scale and at the same time require large energy infrastructures, high-speed networks, storage, and cooling.
The European Commission proposes that AI Gigafactories have a computing capacity approximately four times greater than that of the current AI Factories and that they integrate more than 100,000 advanced AI processors. Its design must also incorporate sufficient energy capacity, efficiency and sustainability criteria, as well as reliable supply chains.
Europe currently has a network of 19 AI Factories, linked to supercomputing ecosystems. Among them is the BSC AIF in Spain, an initiative of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – National Supercomputation Center (BSC-CNS). The objective of this new generation of infrastructure is to make the next technological leap: provide sufficient capacity to work with next-generation models, including AI systems with billions of parameters, and address larger scale and complexity applications.
Europe’s commitment to not depend on others
Behind the AIGFs there is, therefore, a strategic issue: technological sovereignty. Europe starts from a disadvantage in computing capacity for AI compared to the United States and China. According to data from the European Commission, the EU currently represents around 5% of the global computing capacity for AI. Europe is determined to significantly increase its advanced computing capacity, for which a comprehensive plan has been launched to build technological, industrial, and financial capacity. In February 2025, Ursula von der Leyen presented InvestAI, an initiative aimed at mobilizing up to 200 billion euros for investments in artificial intelligence, including 20 billion euros for AI gigafactories.
In July 2026, Europe launches a call to build up to seven gigafactories, supported by up to 10 billion euros in European and national public funding. The initiative also hopes to unlock at least 20 billion euros of private investment. With these structures, researchers, companies, administrations, and local startups will be able to access advanced computing located in European territory and subject to EU data protection standards, security, and AI governance standards. In this way, Europe tries to create a common infrastructure on which its own artificial intelligence industry can grow.
Spain wants to enter the race
Spain is one of the countries that wants to take advantage of this initiative, and has already launched a candidacy to host one of the first European gigafactories through a public-private consortium. The project contemplates two possible sites, Modera la Nova, in Tarragona, and San Fernando de Henares, in Madrid. One of the advantages of this initiative is that Spain does not start from scratch, since it is part of the European AI network Factories.
Although in the current phase it is focused on intra-European competition, with countries such as Spain and Germany presenting the advantages of their digital and economic infrastructure to host the gigafactories, the truth is that this program is designed to build a computing capacity that drives the entire European Union. Just as AI Factories were conceived as an interconnected network open to users from different countries and sectors, future gigafactories could take this model to a much larger scale.
However, the geographic location is relevant beyond the political dimension. A gigafactory needs soil, energy, high-capacity networks, cooling systems, connectivity, and access to critical infrastructure. But its strategic value will not depend solely on where it is located. Once integrated into the European architecture, these facilities must contribute to a common computing capacity, capable of serving researchers, companies, and bodies from different Member States.
In recent years, AI has emerged as an axis of technological sovereignty, in an area where Europe can hardly rely solely on the capabilities developed in isolation by each Member State. Each country can contribute with its own resources, but the investment scale, computing, energy, and infrastructure necessary to develop advanced models and systems makes European cooperation especially relevant.
