Europe Joins AI Race with €200 Billion InvestAI Initiative

Europe enters the AI race with $207 billion InvestAI initiative

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.

EU plans to 'mobilize' €200B to invest in AI

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the EU will top up a continental AI push to hit €200 billion ($207 billion). The funding comes as Europe looks over its shoulder nervously at the US's $500 billion Stargate Project and new Chinese AI contender DeepSeek. The €150 billion ($155 billion) in the European AI Champions initiative pot so far was placed there by backers led by venture capitalist General Catalyst, and includes Dutch photolithography giant ASML, France's Airbus, Germany's Siemens, Infineon, Philips, Volkswagen and more. The EU budget will, among other things, serve to "derisk" the investment of the private firms. The new funding was announced at the AI Action Summit in Paris, France. This is smaller than the amount of funding announced for America's Stargate project, which aims to build advanced AI infrastructure with an eventual $500 billion price tag. OpenAI's Stargate was billed by US pres Donald Trump as "the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history," though following this his right hand man and would-be OpenAI owner Elon Musk claimed "They don't actually have the money." The project is backed by SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX. Von der Leyen said the EU's InvestAI fund would finance four future AI gigafactories across the region, specialized in training "the most complex, very large, AI models." She said the bloc wants AI "to be a force for good and for growth. We are doing this through our own European approach - based on openness, cooperation and excellent talent." The Commission had already announced an initial seven AI factories in December and said it would "soon announce the next five." The Commish said the bloc's "approach still needs to be supercharged," claiming the move would "mobilize unprecedented capital..." in a "unique" public-private partnership she characterized as a "CERN for AI." Von der Leyen, a second term commission president and famously a backer of Europe's data privacy game changer the General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR), as well as Big Tech antitrust law the Digital Services Act, was also keen to let the world know the EU would be reducing bureaucratic red tape. Like it or not, the technology is perceived as business-critical, and this is not lost on the politicos. The Commission yesterday decided to withdraw its long-stalled ePrivacy Regulation and the Artificial Intelligence Liability Directive (AILD), long feared by the tech sector as it would have made it much easier for people to sue companies over damages caused by AI tech. The Register understands an impact assessment of the directive is partly behind the decision. Senior Vice President and Head of CCIA Europe, Daniel Friedlaender said the commission's "willingness to review past work" was laudable. "Withdrawing legislation on a regular basis should become normal in a well functioning EU," Friedlaender added. The world's richest economic and political bloc does have the first-to-legislate EU AI Act under its belt. Enforcement of its provisions only begins in 2026. The EU also signalled its commitment to AI that works in the public interest with a general declaration at the summit that it wanted things like a "diverse AI ecosystem", an energy sector that's not depleted by the technology, and a careful consideration of its impact on the job market. Signatories said they wanted an AI that was "open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy." Others who signed included China, Australia, Japan, Canada, Korea, and the African Union. The UK and US refused to sign it, with the UK government saying it was too worried about national security and "global governance" and US Vice President JD Vance telling Paris delegates that too much AI regulation could "kill a transformative industry just as it's taking off." He also told attendees at the Grand Palais that the US was "troubled by reports that some foreign governments are considering tightening screws on US tech companies," likely referring to Europe's Digital Services Act.

European Union bets big on AI to compete with United States and China

The European Union is making a bold move in the artificial intelligence race, allocating 200 billion euros to boost its AI industry and compete with the thriving ecosystems of the United States and China. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen dismissed the idea that Europe is lagging behind, insisting that the AI race is far from over. The announcement, made at the Paris AI Summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, was met with enthusiasm by start-ups at the Station F incubator in Paris. Many believe this investment will help European companies develop advanced AI systems, especially after the rise of major chatbots like ChatGPT and China's DeepSeek. However, concerns remain that Europe's strict AI regulations could hinder innovation, with some experts urging closer collaboration with American companies rather than rigid independence. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom and the United States declined to sign the summit's ethical AI governance declaration, raising further questions about international cooperation. For now, it remains to be seen whether Europe's big bet on AI will pay off.