European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced today at the AI Summit in Paris that the EU plans to mobilize €200 billion for investments in artificial intelligence across Europe. This includes a new €20 billion European fund dedicated to AI gigafactories.

During her speech at the AI Summit, von der Leyen welcomed the European initiative “AI Champions”, which promises €150 billion in investments from providers, investors, and the industry. She also highlighted the new “InvestAI” initiative, which brings another €50 billion to the table—bringing the total AI investment package in Europe to €200 billion. “We will focus on industrial and mission-critical applications. This will be the world’s largest public-private partnership for the development of trustworthy AI,” she stated.

The AI race is just beginning.

Building on the European AI Champions initiative, I’m glad to announce InvestAI 🇪🇺

We aim to mobilise €200 billion in AI investments in Europe ↓ https://t.co/PaLTUDsVpm

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 11, 2025

“Artificial intelligence will improve our healthcare, boost our research and innovation, and strengthen our competitiveness,” von der Leyen said, emphasizing that, alongside EU member states and partners, the InvestAI fund will mobilize unprecedented capital to develop European AI gigafactories. She also pointed out that this unique public-private collaboration, akin to CERN, will allow scientists and companies to develop cutting-edge large-scale AI models, essential for establishing Europe as a leader in AI. The Commission President underlined that while AI can be a gift to humanity, it is crucial to ensure that its benefits are widely shared and accessible to all.

Four AI Gigafactories to be Funded Across the EU

According to a statement released by the European Commission today, the InvestAI fund will finance the creation of four future AI gigafactories across the EU. These new AI gigafactories will specialize in training the most complex, large-scale AI models. Such next-generation AI models require extensive computing infrastructure to drive breakthroughs in critical fields such as medicine and science. Each gigafactory will house approximately 100,000 next-generation AI chips, nearly four times more than those in current AI factories.

The gigafactories funded through InvestAI will represent the largest public-private partnership for AI development worldwide. They will embody the European model of collaborative, open innovation, with a strong emphasis on complex industrial and mission-critical applications. The goal is to ensure that every company—not just industry giants—has access to large-scale computing power to shape the future.

How the InvestAI Fund Will Work

InvestAI will operate as a multi-layered fund, with different risk-return profiles. The EU budget will serve to de-risk investments from other partners. The European Commission’s initial funding for InvestAI will be sourced from existing EU financial programs with a digital focus, including Digital Europe, Horizon Europe, and InvestEU.

EU member states can also contribute by allocating funds from their cohesion policy budgets. The funding structure for AI gigafactories, combining grants and equity, will serve as a pilot model for strategic technologies under the “Competitiveness Compass” initiative.

AI Factories: The Largest Public AI Investment in the World

The European Commission had already announced the first seven AI factories in December, with five more to be revealed soon. The current AI factory support package, worth €10 billion, co-funded by the EU and member states, already represents the largest public AI investment worldwide. It is expected to unlock over ten times that amount in private investments. This initiative is also significantly increasing access to supercomputers for startups and industries.