Published on: April 11, 2025 / update from: April 11, 2025 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein
Europe's path to AI leadership with five AI gigafabrics? Between ambitious plans and historical challenges - Image: Xpert.digital
Europe's bet on AI: Will the new plan be more successful?
AI gigafeBriken: Europe's steps towards technological independence?
On April 9, 2025, the European Union presented an ambitious action plan to make Europe a leading AI continent through the construction of five AI gigafabrics. This plan is part of a history of European technology initiatives that pursued the goal of gaining digital sovereignty. However, the challenges are considerable how previous projects such as 5G expansion and the Cloud project GAIA-X show. While the EU hopes to catch up with the technological gap through massive computing capacities and strategic investments, the question remains whether this new attempt will be more successful than previous initiatives.
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The action plan for a European AI continent
Five gigafabriken as the heart of the European AI strategy
The EU Commission has submitted a comprehensive action plan to make Europe a leading location for artificial intelligence. The construction of up to five AI gigafabrics is central in this plan, which are to be built in various EU member states. These gigafabrics are impressive major technological projects-they should be about 10 to 100 times larger than normal AI factories and with around 100,000 state-of-the-art AI chips. This equipment corresponds approximately to the four-time capacity of the AI factories currently under construction.
On April 9, 2025, the EU Commissioner Henna Virkkuns responsible for technical sovereignty officially presented the plan and emphasized the urgency of the project: “Artificial intelligence focuses on making Europe more competitive, safe and technologically sovereign. The global race for AI is far from over. Time is now to be acted”. The EU has set itself the ambitious goal of becoming a “leading AI continent”, for which “brave measures” are required, according to the draft of the action plan.
Supporting measures and financing
In addition to building the gigafabrics, the action plan contains other elements that are intended to promote AI development in Europe. This includes adapting European AI regulation to relieve smaller companies, as well as the establishment of Data Labs, in which large, high-quality amounts of data from different sources are to be brought together and curated.
To finance these ambitious plans, the “Investai” initiative is launched, which is intended to mobilize private investments of 20 billion euros for AI gigaBriken. In addition, the Commission plans a “Law on the Development of Cloud and AI”, which is intended to create incentives for investments by the private sector in cloud capacities and data centers, with the aim of “at least tripling the EU data center capacity in the next five to seven years”.
Opportunities for the Germany location
Germany, in particular the business location of North Rhine-Westphalia, could benefit from the action plan. In Jülich, North Rhine-Westphalia, a AI factory is already being built, which, according to information from the Handelsblatt, has good chances of being selected as a German giga factory in the tender. Hendrik Wüst, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, was optimistic and emphasized: "We have the best prerequisites for becoming leading digital and quantum region in Europe".
Europe's technology initiatives in a historical context
The failure of earlier EU tech plans
The current efforts for AI leadership are not isolated, but are lined up in a story of EU technology initiatives with mixed success. In particular, two previous projects are often cited as examples of the difficulties in implementing technological sovereignty: 5G expansion and the cloud project GAIA-X.
In September 2016, the EU Commission launched a plan to promote the construction of 5G infrastructures and services across Europe. However, the goals set, such as a complete coverage in urban regions by 2025, were not achieved. This shows the challenges in the implementation of ambitious technological infrastructure projects at European level.
The Gaia-X case: Europe's failed cloud ambition
The problem of the example of GAIA-X, the European project for a sovereign cloud infrastructure, becomes even clearer. Gaia-X was announced in 2019 with great attention as a European alternative to the cloud services of American tech giants. The project should create a “distributed, federal cloud infrastructure” that builds on existing data center structures in Europe and ensures independence of non-European providers.
Five years later, however, Gaia-X is considered failed by some observers. The cloud provider NextCloud even describes the project as “dead”. Critics like the Swiss journalist Adrienne Fichter point out that Gaia-X did not bring the promised “European digital sovereignty”: “Yes Gaia-X should have saved the European digital sovereignty ... The European answer to Amazon, Microsoft & Co. […]
A main criticism of the Gaia-X project is that it has moved away from its original goals. Instead of a real European cloud infrastructure, a complex set of rules was created in which US companies can also participate, which has undermined the original purpose. Bert Hubert, a Dutch technology expert, describes Gaia-X in his analysis as a “expensive distraction” that does not concern the actual problems-missing European cloud providers with sufficient scalability.
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The challenges of digital sovereignty in Europe
Between claim and reality
The repeated efforts of the EU for technological and digital sovereignty reflect a fundamental strategic challenge. While the United States and China further expand its technological dominance, Europe is often in a “digital dependency trap”. The reason for this lies in a variety of structural factors and political decisions.
A fundamental problem is Europe's approach to digital sovereignty: instead of relying on your own strengths and occupying strategic niches, Europe often tries to challenge the United States and China in all areas at the same time - with inadequate resources. There is a lack of a coherent strategy and sufficient investments in order to keep up with the massive technology investments in the USA and Chinas.
The multi -layered nature of digital sovereignty
Digital sovereignty is not a uniform concept, but encompasses different dimensions. According to an analysis of the WIK (Scientific Institute for Infrastructure and Communication Services), there are three common dimensions of digital sovereignty: privacy, cyber security and strategy. While the first dimension is primarily concerned with the ability of the individual to control his digital life and his data, the second and third dimension relate to the collective level of the states and the EU, which are trying to obtain control and leadership in digital age.
The dependence on non-European tech companies is perceived by the EU as a risk that extends over critical areas such as cloud infrastructures, semiconductor production, cybersecurity applications and components for 5G networks. The EU is increasingly realizing that such dependencies can be used as potential geopolitical pressure.
Success factors for European technology leadership
Speed and capital resources as a key elements
An apprenticeship from the previous EU technology initiatives is that two factors are crucial for success: the speed of implementation and extremely high capital resources. In both areas, Europe had difficulties in the past. European decision -making is often slow and fragmented, while the available investments are left behind that of the United States and China.
The current AI plan tries to take these lessons into account by raining quickly implementation and considerable investments. With the aim of mobilizing 20 billion euros in private investments, financial commitment is significantly higher than in previous projects. Nevertheless, the question remains whether this will be sufficient to keep up with the investments of global technology leaders such as the USA and China.
Strengthening European AI talents and competencies
Another critical factor for Europe's technology leadership is the availability of specialists. The EU campaign plan for AI therefore also includes measures to strengthen AI competencies and to recruit talents. The Commission wants to facilitate the international attitude of highly qualified AI experts through initiatives such as the talent pool, the Marie-Skłodowska-Curie campaign “MSCA CHOOSE Europe” and AI scholarship programs of the planned AI Skills Academy.
These measures are intended to help create legal migration routes for highly qualified workers from non-EU countries in the AI sector and to lure the best European AI researchers and experts back to Europe. The EU thus recognizes that technology leadership is not only a question of infrastructure, but also of human capital.
Europe's potential strengths in global technology competition
Regulatory power and ethical standards
Despite all the difficulties, Europe has a chance of strengthening its digital sovereignty. The continent has considerable strengths and potentials that have not yet been used sufficiently. The regulatory power of the EU - often referred to as “Brussels Effect” - can be an important lever to promote European values and interests in digital space.
With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Europe has already set global standards for data protection. The EU AI Act, which is the world's first comprehensive regulation for artificial intelligence, could also have a similar effect. The action plan for the AI continent provides to set up a “service for AI laws” to support companies in compliance with the AI law.
Industrial strengths and scientific excellence
Europe is a leader in areas such as industrial automation, embedded systems and industrial IoT. Companies such as Siemens, Bosch or ABB are world market leaders in their segments. This strength in “Industry 4.0” could serve as the basis for wider digital sovereignty.
In addition, Europe has excellent research institutions and universities that are leading worldwide in areas such as cryptography, quantum computing or AI ethics. This scientific excellence could be translated more into economic innovations if the right framework is created.
Between hope and realism
The European initiative for five AI gigafabrics shows the will of the EU to play a leading role in the global technology competition. It is an expression of growing consciousness for the importance of technological sovereignty in an increasingly digitized world. At the same time, experience with previous technology initiatives such as 5G and Gaia-X warn.
The success of the European AI plan will depend on whether it will be possible to draw the teachings from the past: quick implementation, sufficient financing, clear focus on strategic strengths and effective coordination between the EU level and member states. Digital sovereignty is not an end in itself, but the prerequisite for Europe to preserve its values in the digital age, maintain its economic strength and ensure its political ability to act.
The next few years will show whether the EU with its AI gigafabrics will actually make a breakthrough or whether they share the fate of earlier technology initiatives. The path to digital sovereignty and technological leadership is long and challenging, but it begins with concrete steps-and the AI initiative could be such a step.
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