The German construction giant HOCHTIEF, in collaboration with the European cloud service provider IONOS, has officially submitted a Expression of Interest to the European Commission to participate in the initiative for the construction and operation of an Artificial Intelligence Gigafactory on European soil. This would be one of the five facilities that the EU plans to finance as part of its strategy to ensure technological sovereignty against the dominance of the U.S. and China.
Infrastructure for Sovereign AI
The project envisions creating a high-performance data center infrastructure with an initial capacity of over 50,000 GPU units, scalable to over 100,000 GPUs. The facility will be designed from the ground up, adhering to European standards regarding data protection, energy efficiency, and cybersecurity, with the stated goal of contributing to a truly sovereign and independent AI ecosystem in Europe.
The initial timeline suggests that the infrastructure could begin operations as early as 2027, depending on the evaluation and selection process that the European Commission will conduct in the coming months. The community program will allocate €20 billion to the creation of these five specialized computing megafacilities, which must be strategically located throughout the European Union.
A High-Level Consortium
The proposal led by HOCHTIEF and IONOS also involves participation from companies specializing in technology, utilities, and security, as well as top-tier research and development institutions. The project’s funding will follow a typical mixed model for large infrastructures: a combination of equity, strategic partnerships, and debt financing, supplemented by specific aid from the European fund.
HOCHTIEF brings its expertise as a global leader in data center construction, with over 6 GW in completed projects, integrating planning, financing, operation, and sustainable design. According to the company, one of the project’s key focuses will be on the optimization of the full lifecycle of the data center, with special attention to energy efficiency and sustainability.
On the other hand, IONOS, a European provider with over 30 years of experience in digitalization and cloud infrastructure operation, will offer its robust technology, GDPR compliance, and expertise in deploying large-scale AI workloads securely and efficiently.
Europe Seeks Strategic Independence
The project is part of a broader effort by the European Union to reduce its technological dependence on external sources in key areas such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and data management. In recent years, Brussels has intensified its efforts to consolidate a digital ecosystem that respects European values and aligns with community regulations, especially regarding data protection and cybersecurity.
AI Gigafactories are considered critical infrastructures for developing foundational models, autonomous systems, natural language processing, and other advanced technologies. The initiative also aims to position Europe as a power capable of competing in a field currently led by the U.S. and China, where players like NVIDIA, Microsoft, Amazon, and Baidu dominate large-scale AI training and inference infrastructures.
Next Steps
The European Commission will evaluate the submitted expressions of interest and define the selection criteria in the coming months to advance toward project awards. HOCHTIEF and IONOS have already expressed their willingness to finalize the technical, regulatory, and financial details necessary to advance this ambitious initiative.
Building an AI Gigafactory would not only represent a milestone in the digital autonomy of Europe but also serve as a significant economic and strategic lever, attracting talent, fostering innovation, and consolidating Europe’s position as a relevant player in the global race for artificial intelligence.
Source: hochtief