- The European Union (EU) is opening bids for up to seven AI gigafactories in a roughly €30 billion effort to expand computing capacity and reduce reliance on foreign AI infrastructure.
- The German research and industry consortium behind Soofi S presents the model as a concrete answer to U.S. dominance, backed by €20 million and built around nearly 32 billion parameters.
- Led by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, the initiative pairs up to €10 billion in public funding from the EU and member states with at least €20 billion in expected private investment, the European Commission said.
- The call closes on November 12, with award decisions expected by early 2027 and construction to begin that same year; selected gigafactories are expected to begin operations within 18 months of contract signing.
- The bidding is split into two lots: the first supports up to four projects with up to €100 million initially and €400 million more later; the second supports up to three projects with up to €200 million initially and €800 million more in phase two.
- Eighteen member states have signed a joint procurement agreement and will match EU funding; each gigafactory must deploy at least as many cutting-edge AI processors as Europe's most powerful AI facility, with second-phase capacity reaching at least three times that level in the first lot and four times in the second.
- The gigafactories would join Europe's existing network of 19 smaller AI factories attached to supercomputers and push total AI computing capacity to more than twice its current level once online.
- The Commission has signed letters of intent with AMD, Nvidia and Qualcomm to secure chip access; a preliminary expression-of-interest process drew 76 responses, but only about €1 billion of the EU's funding is currently secured.
The European Commission has launched a bidding process for seven AI gigafactories, part of a €30 billion initiative to enhance the EU's computing capabilities and lessen dependence on foreign AI infrastructure. The initiative, spearheaded by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, aims to combine €10 billion in public funding with €20 billion in private investment.13
The bidding process closes on November 12, with decisions expected by early 2027 and construction slated to begin that year. Selected gigafactories are anticipated to commence operations within 18 months of contract signing. Each factory must deploy cutting-edge AI processors, with the first phase supporting projects eligible for up to €100 million in funding.4567
In this context, Germany's Soofi S consortium has emerged as a significant player, presenting a model designed to bolster Europe's digital sovereignty. Backed by €20 million in funding, Soofi S aims to compete with U.S. giants by providing a model that can operate independently of foreign providers. The model, with approximately 31.6 billion parameters, is tailored for companies and public institutions needing to comply with GDPR regulations.2
Soofi S has shown promising results in comparative tests, outperforming several international models in specific tasks, although it still faces challenges in broader knowledge areas. The project is part of a larger initiative to develop AI capabilities within Europe, ensuring that the continent remains competitive in the global AI landscape.
“The call closes November 12, with awards expected by early 2027 and only about €1 billion of EU funding secured so far. Separately, Germany's Soofi S — built with €20 million and nearly 32 billion parameters — remains a beta preview on Hugging Face, not a final open release.”
qz.com
