‘Time to act is now’: EU’s €20 billion AI push to catch up with US and China
As part of the Action Plan, the European Commission has pledged to create five AI gigafactories, which will be large-scale facilities equipped with approximately 100,000 state-of-the-art AI chips.
The EU has revealed details of an ambitious Action Plan that includes €20 billion (about USD 22.5 billion) investment in building five AI gigafactories and developing the next generation of AI models as Europe attempts to catch up with the US and China in the race for global AI leadership.
To stimulate private sector investment in cloud capacity and data centres, the European Commission will also propose a Cloud and AI Development Act, the Commission said in a media release. The goal is to at least triple the EU’s data centre capacity in the next five to seven years, prioritising highly sustainable data centres.
“Artificial intelligence is at the heart of making Europe more competitive, secure and technological sovereign. The global race for AI is far from over. Time to act is now,” said Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. “This Action Plan outlines key areas where efforts need to intensify to make Europe a leading AI Continent. We are working towards a future where tech innovation drives industry and public services forward, bringing concrete benefits to our citizens and businesses through trustworthy AI.”
When it comes to AI, the US is far ahead of both China and Europe. According to a report from Stanford University, quoted by The Guardian, 40 “notable AI models” were produced by institutions in the US last year, compared with 15 in China and three in Europe.
As part of the new initiative, the European Commission has pledged to create a network of AI factories along with the five AI gigafactories. The latter will be large-scale facilities equipped with approximately 100,000 state-of-the-art AI chips, four times more than current AI factories, the media release said.
“The AI gigafactories will lead the next wave of frontier AI models and maintain the EU’s strategic autonomy in critical industrial sectors and science, requiring public and private investments,” the Commission said.
Private investment in five gigafactories will be further stimulated through the InvestAI, which will mobilise €20 billion investment for the purpose.
Other important elements of the Action Plan include the creation of Data Labs, to bring together large, high-quality data volumes from different sources in AI factories; developing algorithms and fostering AI adoption in strategic EU sectors; enhancing the AI workforce and talent pool; and launching the AI Act Service Desk, to help businesses comply with the AI Act.