EU Commission opens tender for seven AI gigafactories, pledges €10bn

Companies and consortia can now bid to build and operate seven 'AI gigafactories' in Europe. The Commission is providing €10bn ($11.4bn) in public funding and expects this to unlock a further €20bn ($22.8bn) in private investment. The aim is to build up the EU's own AI computing capacity in competition with the US and China.

Announced on 30 July 2026 by Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen (technological sovereignty); reported by AP and independently by Bloomberg. Specific sites and awards are still pending. The step follows national bids and consortium plans already tracked here — Poland's government resolution of 14 July 2026 and the ÆTHER consortium's two planned gigafactories near Strasbourg (8 July 2026). Additional detail: the call runs in two lots, with a bid deadline of 12 November 2026; award decisions are expected in early 2027, after which selected projects have up to 18 months to become operational. It was preceded by an informal call for expressions of interest that drew 76 proposals for 60 sites across 16 member states, worth more than €230 billion in total.