By The European Times | Created at 2025-03-12 12:16:44 | Updated at 2025-03-12 18:36:43
6 hours ago
France and Germany will establish AI Factories, which operate alongside Europe’s first exascale supercomputers, Alice Recoque and JUPITER. Meanwhile, Austria, Bulgaria, Poland and Slovenia, will deploy new AI-optimised systems with AI Factories to further expand Europe’s AI infrastructure.
The AI Factory in Germany (Julich) will also include an experimental platform, which will serve as a cutting-edge infrastructure for developing and testing innovative AI models and applications, as well as promoting collaboration across Europe.
These new six AI Factories will be added to the seven AI Factories previously selected, creating an interconnected network of AI hubs ready to accommodate AI innovation across Europe. Each factory will be one-stop shop, offering AI startups, SMEs, and researchers with comprehensive support to develop their data-sets as well as to access to AI-optimised high-performance computing (HPC) resources, training, and technical expertise.
Austria (AI:AT)
The AI Factory Austria (AI:AT) aims to support ethical, practical and sustainable AI development, helping businesses, researchers, and policymakers turn ideas into useful solutions.
It will serve as a critical enabler for the integration of AI technologies into Austria’s manufacturing industries, addressing key challenges and unlocking new opportunities for innovation and growth.
By providing access to high-quality datasets, advanced AI models, and scalable computing infrastructure, the AI Factory will empower companies to enhance and optimise production planning, and improve quality assurance.
The AI Factory will be installed at TU Wien, Vienna.
The main entities driving the Austrian AI Factory forward are the Advanced Computing Austria (ACA) and the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT).
In addition, the AI Factory will also forge strong collaborations with the emerging EuroHPC AI Factories, ensuring that the different needs of the European AI communities are met.
Bulgaria (BRAIN++ [Bulgarian Robotics & AI Nexus])
The Bulgarian AI Factory BRAIN++, will be located at Sofia Tech Park, in Sofia, Bulgaria, and will comprise of two key components, which will operate in synergy: the Discoverer++, a next-generation supercomputer tailored for advanced AI workloads, and the Bulgarian AI Factory, a comprehensive AI hub offering one-stop shop governmental, education and private companies which will be able to adopt and responsibly innovate with AI.
BRAIN++ aims to position Bulgaria as a regional leader in AI innovation by fostering talent development, supporting startups/SMEs, and driving further development and deployment of Bulgarian Language LLMs, Robotics AI, Space Observation AI, product manufacturing (with an emphasis on consumer good products), Trustworthy AI Compliance Tools, Federated AI Data Lake, collaborative office and virtual AI workspaces (BulgAI Sandbox) and with AI skills and talent development and responsible AI entrepreneurship.
By integrating with other EuroHPC AI Factories across Europe, BRAIN++ will contribute to a unified European AI ecosystem while promoting ethical and responsible AI practices
France (AI2F)
The AI Factory France (AI2F) will build on an existing, decentralised AI French ecosystem, involving large companies, startups, research laboratories, data centres, universities and schools, venture capitalists and incubators as well as AI think tanks and associations.
By leveraging state-of-the-art supercomputing infrastructure and support services, the AI2F will foster the use of AI in research, innovation and public services in France and in Europe.
The consortium of the AI2F is led by the French Hosting Entity GENCI, in collaboration with academic and innovation partners: AMIAD, CEA, Cines, CNRS, France Universités (FU) representing the 74 French universities, Inria, The French Tech, Station F, and HubFranceIA.
The AI2F relies on Alice Recoque, the second EuroHPC Exascale supercomputer, which is an AI-ready EuroHPC supercomputer. As this system will start being deployed in 2026, the AI2F is committed to provide access to the existing French national infrastructures, owned by GENCI: Jean Zay at IDRIS (CNRS), Adastra at CINES (France Universités), and Joliot-Curie at TGCC (CEA).
AI2F will be open to all sectors, welcoming industry stakeholders to collaborate and develop initiatives that drive AI adoption and innovation within their domains.
In this context, AI2F aims to support key societal and industrial sectors, including defense, energy, aerospace, edtech, agriculture, finance, humanities, robotics, health, earth science, materials science, and mobility.
As AI2F is part of a European infrastructure of AI factories within an AI Continent, it will collaborate with other AI Factories in Europe and many European stakeholders (including ALT_EDIC, BDVA, EOSC, Gaia-X, EDIHs and TEFs to name a few).
Additional details can be found on the French Press Release.
Germany (JAIF)
JAIF, the JUPITER AI Factory, will contribute to Europe’s AI innovation cluster by supporting the development and deployment of AI solutions using Europe’s HPC infrastructure, particularly to address growing industry needs.
The JAIF leverages the capabilities of Europe’s first exascale supercomputer JUPITER (Joint Undertaking Pioneer for Innovative and Transformative Exascale Research) to support European startups, SMEs, industries, the public sector, and the broader scientific and technological community.
Acting as a one-stop shop, it will provide a single point of contact for these stakeholders, facilitating innovation and collaboration. JAIF will also feature an experimental platform for developing and testing AI models: JARVIS (JUPITER Advanced Research Vehicle for Inference Services), an inference module designed to accelerate the execution and optimization of AI models.
With a consortium of leading institutions and an ambitious service portfolio, JAIF addresses the growing demand for AI solutions, bridges gaps in expertise, fosters collaboration across Europe, and strengthens Europe’s position as a leader in AI-driven prosperity and growth across the key sectors of healthcare, energy, climate change and the environment, education, media and culture, the public sector, finance and insurance.
JAIF’s partners include the Jülich Supercomputing Centre at Forschungszentrum Jülich, the Center for Artificial Intelligence at RWTH Aachen University, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology (FIT) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems (IAIS), as well as the Hessian Center for Artificial Intelligence (hessian.AI). Associated partners include KI Bundesverband, WestAI, hessian.AISC, and the Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (LAMARR).
In addition to its local stakeholders, JAIF will maintain a close partnership with the AI Factory France led by GENCI, where Alice Recoque, Europe’s second Exascale supercomputer, is being developed. Additionally, JAIF will establish links with key AI partners across Europe, including HammerHAI, IT4LIA, AIF Spain, MeluXina-AI, LUMI AIF, MIMER and Pharos.
Further details about JAIF can be found here.
Poland (PIAST)
The PIAST AI Factory is dedicated to advancing AI research, innovation, and application in Poland and across Europe. By bridging the gap between academia, industry, and government, the PIAST AI Factory fosters a dynamic ecosystem for knowledge exchange and AI innovation.
Led by the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC), PIAST AI Factory collaborates with the Poznan University of Technology (PUT), the Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU), and the Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU), along with regional industry clusters and innovation hubs, particularly the Wielkopolska IT & Telecommunication Cluster.
The PIAST AIF seeks to accelerate the adoption of AI technologies across academia and industry sectors, in particular for Health & Life sciences, IT & Cybersecurity (including Quantum), Space & Robotics, Sustainability (Energy, Agriculture and Climate Change) and the public sector.
Leveraging PSNC’s advanced HPC infrastructure and the EuroHPC quantum computer, Piast, the PIAST AI Factory promises to drive innovation, foster collaboration, and strengthen Poland’s position within the European HPC, Quantum and AI ecosystem.
The AI Factory will focus on accessibility, sustainability, and cross-border cooperation creating a platform for impactful AI applications that address pressing societal challenges while driving economic growth.
Through these efforts, the PIAST AI Factory wishes to contribute to the realisation of a technologically sovereign and globally competitive European AI ecosystem.
Slovenia (SLAIF)
SLAIF, the Slovenian AIF, will provide companies and the public sector with AI tools to enhance competitiveness, improve services, and benefit citizens.
Through extensive collaboration with entities and countries in the region, SLAIF will also contribute to the wide uptake of AI tools and services to help develop the AI ecosystem in Europe.
SLAIF will provide a dedicated AI-optimised supercomputing facility, , located at IZUM in Maribor, that will support industrial AI applications and enable training of large-scale AI models, conducting inference at scale, and supporting AI-driven scientific discovery.
The Hosting Entity and overall coordinator of SLAIF will be IZUM, while the consortium will include the Jožef Stefan Institute (technical coordinator of the AI Factory part), ARNES, and five universities: the University of Ljubljana, the University of Maribor, the University of Nova Gorica, the University of Primorska, and the Faculty of Information Studies in Novo Mesto. All these institutions provide AI expertise, training, and talent. In addition, the Technology Park Ljubljana and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia will support knowledge transfer and business engagement.
Acting as a one-stop-shop, SLAIF’s mission is to foster AI-driven innovation across various sectors, engaging with industry partners to provide businesses with AI-powered solutions, technical support, and infrastructure access.
SLAIF’s roadmap aligns with both national and European AI strategies, integrating with existing infrastructures like the petascale EuroHPC system VEGA and the SLING network. By seamlessly integrating national and European AI initiatives, SLAIF will crucially contribute to positioning Slovenia as a key AI hub in Europe.
Further details about SLAIF can be found at www.slaif.si.
More Details
As a result of the second cut-off on 1 February 2025, the EuroHPC JU Governing Board has approved the selection of six new AI Factories. This number comprises two successful submissions under EUROHPC-2024-CEI-AI-01 call and four under EUROHPC-2024-CEI-AI-02 call. The next cut-off deadline for additional proposals is 2nd May 2025.
So far, 13 sites across Europe have been selected to host AI Factories. From the first cut-off of 1 November 2024, seven countries were selected to deploy the first AI Factories: Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and Sweden, hosting brand-new AI-optimised supercomputers, Spain establishing an AI Factory by upgrading existing EuroHPC systems and Greece operating an existing AI-ready system. In addition, Spain and Finland’s AI Factories will also include experimental platforms, serving as testbeds for AI model development.
The hosting agreements with the first selected Hosting Entities have been signed, leading currently to the launch of the procurement process for the relevant systems, which is scheduled to take place in the first half of 2025. The hosting agreements are contractual documents that define the roles, rights and obligations of each party. The procurement process for the AI Factories is managed by EuroHPC JU.
By 2026, these AI Factories will be the backbone of Europe’s AI strategy, combining computing power, data, and talent to drive innovation and secure Europe’s leadership in AI.
Background
The EuroHPC JU is a legal and funding entity, created in 2018 and reviewed in 2021 by Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 to enable the European Union and participating countries to coordinate efforts and pool resources with the objective of making Europe a world leader in supercomputing.
In order to equip Europe with a world-leading supercomputing infrastructure, the EuroHPC JU has already procured nine supercomputers, located across Europe. Regardless of their location in Europe, European scientists and users from the public sector and industry can benefit from these EuroHPC supercomputers via the EuroHPC Access Calls. This access enables them to advance science and support the development of a wide range of applications with industrial, scientific, and societal relevance for Europe.
Recently reviewed by means of Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1732, the EuroHPC JU received a new mandate to develop and operate AI factories. These comprehensive open AI ecosystems located around EuroHPC supercomputing facilities will support the growth of a highly competitive and innovative AI ecosystem in Europe.
