EU AI Gigafactory Proposals Surge With 76 Projects Submitted
Europe’s telecommunications sector is seeing a significant growth moment after the European Commission’s recent call for expressions of interest in AI gigafactories attracted a remarkable 76 proposals.
The submissions, spanning 16 EU member states and covering 60 proposed sites, demonstrate an industry-wide momentum that far exceeded expectations.
European Union's AI Continent Action Plan was published on April 9 2025.
Speaking at a recent press conference, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen said: “We got 76 submissions proposing to set up AI gigafactories in 16 member states and across 60 different sites.
"And this exceeds far beyond our expectations and this showcases Europe’s growing momentum and enthusiasm for innovating in AI in Europe."
A strategic opportunity for telecoms
The call for expressions of interest, part of the EU’s AI Continent Action Plan, aims to establish state-of-the-art, large-scale AI compute and data storage hubs, or gigafactories.
The facilities are set to become the backbone for advanced AI workloads, with the Commission highlighting that “AI gigafactories will be state-of-the-art, large-scale AI compute and data storage hubs, purpose-built to develop, train and deploy next-generation AI models and applications at hyperscale, e.g. models with hundreds of trillions of parameters”.
For the telecommunications industry, it represents a significant opportunity to shape Europe’s digital infrastructure.
The Commission confirmed that respondents include “European data centre operators, telecoms and power suppliers, as well as both European and global technology companies and investors”. The scope and scale of the proposals are vast, with plans to acquire at least three million of the latest generation GPUs, a move that will set benchmarks for AI model training, inference and deployment.
Investment and policy alignment
The overwhelming response follows the EU’s allocation of US$21.5bn in funding to support the construction of up to five AI gigafactories, with the total investment pledged by interested parties exceeding US$271bn over the next three to four years.
Henna described the interest as “a great success", adding that “the aim is to make the international community a global leader in the field of artificial intelligence as a ‘powerhouse’ and, in particular, to implement the next generation of AI models in the EU.
The message is clear: ‘Now is the time to shape our AI future.’ Europe is the ideal place to invest.
The Commission highlighted that the current submissions are not formal applications but rather a non-binding roster to inform the next phase of the initiative.
The official call for proposals is expected by the end of 2025, with the process aiming to serve as a flagship pilot for the EU’s Competitiveness Coordination Tool, a mechanism designed to align industrial and research policies across member states.
Confidentiality and industry collaboration
Due to the sensitive nature of the business information provided, the Commission is not disclosing the identities of most respondents. However, several companies have voluntarily announced their participation.
Notably, German hosting firm Ionos, along with telcos Telefónica and MasOrange in Spain, have confirmed their involvement in the race to build and operate AI gigafactories. In Germany, Deutsche Telekom has announced plans for an AI data centre in partnership with Nvidia, aiming for a capacity of at least 10,000 GPUs within nine months. Meanwhile, other major players, such as SAP and Siemens, are also actively engaged.
Driving Europe’s AI sovereignty
The push for AI gigafactories is not just about technological advancement but about achieving European sovereignty in digital infrastructure.
“The vast majority of AI companies, hardware and software companies, data centres and financial backers involved so far are European,” Henna noted, underlining the continent’s commitment to building its capacities and reducing reliance on external providers.
Energy efficiency and climate neutrality are central to the project, aligning with the EU’s broader sustainability goals.
As the Commission moves towards the official selection process, the telecommunications sector aims to play a crucial role in delivering the connectivity, data handling and operational resilience required for these next-generation AI hubs.
A defining moment for telecoms and AI
The response to the EU’s AI gigafactory initiative signals a defining moment for Europe’s telecommunications industry. As investment and policy converge, telecom providers are uniquely positioned to drive and benefit from the continent’s ambition to become a global AI powerhouse.
As Henna put it: “Now is the time to shape our AI future”.
The coming months will be critical as the sector prepares for the official call for proposals and the next phase of Europe’s digital transformation.
