EU Bets on Gigafactories to Catch Up With U.S., China in AI Race
The European Union said it would focus on building artificial-intelligence data and computing infrastructure and making it easier for companies to comply with regulation in a bid to catch up with the U.S. and China in the AI race.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said it wanted to develop a network of so-called AI gigafactories to help companies train the most complex models. Those facilities will be equipped with roughly 100,000 of the latest AI chips, around four times more than the number installed in AI factories being set up right now.
The announcement, part of the EU's AI Continent Action Plan, underscores efforts from the block to position itself as a key player in the AI race against the U.S. and China. The EU has been lagging behind since OpenAI's 2022 release of ChatGPT ushered in a spending bonanza.
Earlier this year, Washington announced Stargate, an AI joint venture that aims to build data centers in the U.S. for OpenAI. OpenAI, SoftBank Group, Oracle and MGX are the initial equity funders in Stargate, while Arm, Microsoft and Nvidia are technology partners. The companies are committing $100 billion initially, but plan to invest up to $500 billion over the next four years.
Beijing, for its part, has also made strides in the technology. Chinese company DeepSeek developed AI models that it said nearly matched American rivals despite using inferior chips, raising questions about the need to spend huge sums on advanced gear provided by Nvidia and other tech giants.
'The global race for AI is far from over,' said Henna Virkkunen, EU executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy. 'This action plan outlines key areas where efforts need to intensify to make Europe a leading AI continent.'
The EU in February pledged to mobilize 200 billion euros ($219.17 billion) in AI investments. More than 20 investors earmarked 150 billion euros for AI-related opportunities in Europe over the next five years, while the bloc is setting up a new 20 billion-euro fund for up to five AI gigafactories.
The EU plans to work with the private sector to roll out the infrastructure given the elevated costs, a senior EU official said, with member states and companies sharing the burden in a public-private partnership. The bloc posted a call for expressions of interest to attract investors.
Meanwhile, EU lawmakers plan to put forward a Cloud and AI Development Act to stimulate private investment in infrastructure as the bloc seeks to at least triple its data-center capacity in the next five to seven years.
EU officials also said the commission would set up an AI Act Service Desk, a point of contact to make it easier for companies to comply with the AI regulation in the bloc.
EU lawmakers last year approved the world's most comprehensive legislation yet on artificial intelligence. The rules ban certain uses of the technology, roll out new transparency guidelines and require risk assessments for AI systems that are deemed high-risk.
News Corp, owner of Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal, has a content-licensing partnership with OpenAI.
Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com
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