Editor's take: The new US administration recently announced an unprecedented investment to build the world's largest AI infrastructure project. Meanwhile, China shocked Wall Street and Fortune 500 companies by unveiling the controversial DeepSeek chatbot. Now, Europe is joining the race to burst the AI bubble with its aptly named InvestAI plan.
Europe has its own "Stargate" program aimed at developing significantly more powerful AI capabilities in the coming years. At the AI Action Summit in Paris, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen officially unveiled the InvestAI initiative. European authorities plan to allocate – or rather "mobilize" – up to €200 billion ($207 billion) in an unprecedented funding effort to develop EU-focused AI technologies and machine learning models.
Like many global leaders today, von der Leyen expressed enthusiasm for AI and its potential to revolutionize nearly every sector. She emphasized that AI-driven services will enhance healthcare, accelerate scientific research and innovation, and strengthen Europe's global competitiveness. According to von der Leyen, Europe will contribute to this technological frontier with an approach centered on openness, collaboration, and a deep pool of research talent.
Von der Leyen also highlighted that InvestAI will leverage the same public-private partnership model that created CERN, the birthplace of the World Wide Web. She shares her optimism with European Investment Bank President Nadia Calviño, who stated that AI will play a crucial role in driving innovation and productivity across Europe.
The European Commission plans to build several new "AI gigafactories" across Europe – massive data centers dedicated to AI training and inference. Each facility will house approximately 100,000 "latest-generation" AI accelerators, nearly four times the number of AI chips used in current AI factories under construction.
Previously, European authorities announced a $10 billion plan to build seven AI factories, with five additional plants set to be unveiled soon. InvestAI will employ a multi-layered funding model, with contributions from institutional partners, member states, and existing EU funding programs. Additionally, Brussels is supporting AI-driven innovation across sectors such as robotics, healthcare, biotech, and climate technology through the GenAI4EU initiative.
Europe's InvestAI plan follows Donald Trump's announcement of the $500 billion "Stargate" initiative, aimed at building a next-generation AI infrastructure in the US. Meanwhile, China is advancing its own AI ambitions with the DeepSeek model, which some speculate could drastically reduce AI development costs – or perhaps not.
Von der Leyen emphasized that the race to develop bigger and more powerful AI systems is "far from over," and the EU is determined to accelerate its progress to remain competitive on the global stage.
Europe enters the AI race with $207 billion InvestAI initiative
