“AI Continent”, the Commission’s ambitious Action Plan

AI Factories are open and dynamic AI ecosystems built around the public network of world-leading EuroHPC supercomputers in Europe. They support the EU’s AI research and industrial ecosystem by bringing together the necessary ingredients – computing power, data and talent – to create cutting-edge and reliable AI models and applications. They foster collaboration across Europe, unlocking the potential of AI companies, in particular SMEs and start-ups, universities and industry. AI Factories serve to drive advances in AI applications in various sectors, such as health, manufacturing, climate change, finance, etc.

The goal of the AI Continent Action Plan , which was launched on 9 April, is to become a world leader in artificial intelligence (AI). As outlined by President Von der Leyen at the AI Action Summit in Paris in February 2025, the aim of this ambitious initiative is to transform Europe’s large traditional industries and their exceptional talent assets into powerful drivers of AI innovation and acceleration.

 

The AI Continent Action Plan will boost the EU’s AI innovation capabilities through actions and policies built around five key pillars:

1. Building a large-scale AI data and computing infrastructure 

The Commission will strengthen Europe’s artificial intelligence and supercomputing infrastructure with a network of AI Factories. Thirteen of these AI Factories are already being set up around Europe’s cutting-edge supercomputers. They will support AI start-ups, AI industry and EU researchers in developing AI models and applications.

As announced in the Competitiveness Compass, the EU will also contribute to the creation of AI gigafactories. These will be large-scale facilities equipped with approximately 100,000 state-of-the-art AI chips, four times more than current AI factories. They will incorporate massive computing capacity and data centres to train and develop complex AI models on an unprecedented scale. AI gigafactories will lead the next wave of frontier AI models and maintain the EU’s strategic autonomy in critical industrial and scientific sectors, requiring public and private investments. A call for expressions of interest for interested consortia is published today.

Private investment in gigafactories will be further incentivised through the InvestAI initiative , which will mobilise €20 billion of investment for a total of up to five AI gigafactories across the EU.

To stimulate private sector investment in cloud capacity and data centres, the Commission will also propose a Cloud Computing and AI Development Act. It aims to at least triple the capacity of EU data centres in the next five to seven years, giving priority to highly sustainable data centres.

2. Increasing access to large volumes of high quality data

Boosting AI innovation also requires access to large volumes of high quality data. An important element of the Action Plan is the creation of data labs where large volumes of high quality data from different sources are collected and preserved in AI factories. An EU data strategy will be launched in 2025, a comprehensive initiative to create a true internal market for data to enable AI solutions to be scaled up.

Building on the increased data availability of the Data Act and the Data Governance Act, the Commission will focus its attention on harnessing the potential of data for innovation and the development of generative AI, inter alia, to boost our competitiveness and become an “AI Continent”. To achieve this, the Commission will present a European Data Union Strategy in the second half of 2025, focused on making more data available for AI and ensuring a simplified, clear and coherent legal framework for businesses and administrations to share data seamlessly and at scale, while respecting high privacy and security standards.

The European Data Union Strategy will focus on strengthening Europe’s data ecosystem:

• increasing interoperability and data availability;
• improving data exchange across sectors and borders;
• ensuring that governance structures are efficient and effective.

It will also reduce the complexity and administrative burden of existing legislation.

3. Developing algorithms and fostering the uptake of AI in strategic sectors in the EU

Despite the potential of AI, only 13.5% of EU companies have adopted it. In order to develop AI solutions adapted to different uses and to boost its industrial use and full adoption in the EU’s strategic public and private sectors, the Commission will launch the AI Usability Strategy in the coming months . The European AI innovation infrastructure, in particular the AI Factories and the European Digital Innovation Centres, will play an important role in this strategy.

The AI Usability Strategy will launch concrete actions to accelerate the uptake of AI and boost innovation in all strategic sectors in the EU, including the public sector. It will promote ‘made in Europe’ AI solutions, focusing on industrial sectors where EU know-how could contribute to further increase competitiveness gains.

4. Strengthening AI skills and talent

To meet the growing demand for AI talent, the Commission will facilitate the international recruitment of highly skilled AI experts and researchers through initiatives such as the Talent Pool, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie action “MSCA Choose Europe” and the AI fellowship programmes to be offered by the forthcoming AI Skills Academy. These initiatives will contribute to the opening of legal migration pathways for highly skilled third-country workers in the AI sector and attract Europe’s best AI researchers and experts to Europe. In addition, the Commission will develop educational and training programmes on AI and Generative AI in key sectors, thereby preparing the next generation of AI specialists and supporting the retraining and upskilling of the workforce.

On the other hand, European Digital Innovation Centres are one-stop-shops that help businesses and public sector organisations to adopt digital solutions, in particular AI, and become more competitive. They provide access to technical expertise and testing, as well as the possibility to try before you invest in AI solutions. EICs offer services for innovation, such as funding for advice, training and capacity building, which are essential for the successful adoption of AI. The EICs work closely with the EU’s AI innovation infrastructures, including AI factories, AI test and experimentation facilities and controlled AI test spaces. Each European Digital Innovation Centre serves as an access point for its entire network, providing local businesses and public actors with access to support from other European Digital Innovation Centres and the necessary expertise. This ensures that all stakeholders have the support they need, wherever it is available in Europe.

In addition, the main objective of the Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence Development Act is to support a European cloud offer, in terms of capacity and services, to meet the needs of the AI Continent Strategy and to strengthen EU competitiveness. The Act aims to at least triple the capacity of EU data centres in the next five to seven years and bring it to a level that fully meets the needs of businesses and public administrations by 2035. The Act will also address barriers to the expansion of data centre capacity and incentivise private investment. It will ensure that sustainable data centre operators benefit from faster authorisation procedures and can access land, financing and energy in the EU. In addition, the Act will improve the offer of cloud service providers in the EU single market, in particular for EU-based highly secure cloud services for very critical use cases.

5. Regulatory simplification

The Artificial Intelligence Regulation increases citizens’ trust in technology and gives investors and entrepreneurs the legal certainty they need to expand their business and deploy AI across Europe. In addition, the Commission will launch a helpdesk on the Artificial Intelligence Regulation to assist businesses in complying with it. It will serve as a central contact point and a one-stop shop for information and guidance on the AI Regulation. It is a priority for the Commission to ensure a smooth implementation of the IA Regulation and to provide clarity on the rules applicable to stakeholders.

The AI Regulation helpdesk will complement the EU’s AI Regulation stakeholder support ecosystem, which includes the European Digital Innovation Centres, the forthcoming AI controlled testbeds, the AI Pact and the guidance on the AI Regulation.

The consultation on AI implementation will seek stakeholders’ views on their challenges in relation to the AI Regulation. This feedback will inform the development of further supporting measures, such as guidance documents, self-assessment tools and obligation templates. They will also inform preparations for our broader assessment on the need to simplify digital legislation.

 

More information: European Commission