Paris, France
The European Union has announced the launch of €200 billion to catalyse investment (InvestAI) in artificial intelligence (AI) in Europe.
According to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the InvestAI development, announced in Paris during the AI Action Summit, was a move to position Europe as a leader in AI development.
A statement by the Commission said the InvestAI fund also includes another €20 billion European fund for AI gigafactories.
The statement reads: “Today, at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit in Paris, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has launched InvestAI, an initiative to mobilise €200 billion for investment in AI, including a new European fund of €20 billion for AI gigafactories. This large AI infrastructure is needed to allow open, collaborative development of the most complex AI models and to make Europe an AI continent.
“AI will improve our healthcare, spur our research and innovation and boost our competitiveness. We want AI to be a force for good and for growth. We are doing this through our own European approach – based on openness, cooperation and excellent talent. But our approach still needs to be supercharged.
This is why, together with our Member States and with our partners, we will mobilise unprecedented capital through InvestAI for European AI gigafactories. This unique public-private partnership, akin to a CERN for AI, will enable all our scientists and companies – not just the biggest – to develop the most advanced very large models needed to make Europe an AI continent,” the statement quoted the Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Nadia Calvino, President of the European Investment Bank who commented on the development said “Together with the EU Commission, the EIB Group is stepping support for Artificial Intelligence, a key driver of innovation and productivity in Europe.”
The statement further revealed that the EU’s InvestAI fund would be deployed to finance four future AI gigafactories across the EU.
“These new AI gigafactories will specialise in training the most complex, very large AI models.
“These next-generation models require extensive computing infrastructure for breakthroughs in specific domains such as medicine or science. The gigafactories will have around 100,000 last-generation AI chips, around four times more than the AI factories currently set up.
“The gigafactories funded through InvestAI will be the largest public-private partnership in the world for the development of trustworthy AI. They will serve the European model of cooperative, open innovation, focusing on complex industrial and mission-critical applications.
“The goal is that every company, not only the biggest players, can access large-scale computing power to build the future,” the statement added.
The EU appears to be leading AI development and making bold investments in AI models and factory development.
The first comprehensive legislation on AI was made and passed by the EU in 2024 and it is expected to take effect on 1st August this year across Europe.
