Anders Jensen, head of the EuroHPC JU, confirmed on Tuesday during a call with private companies interested in building the gigafactories that the first phase of construction will be financed from the EU’s current multi-annual budget, which expires next year.

“This is money that’s secured, it’s here with the JU,” he said.

Jensen also confirmed that the EuroHPC JU plans to move forward with the seven gigafactories built in two stages.

Money talks

While funding for the first stage has already been secured, phase two will depend on the EU providing financing through its next multi-year budget, which capitals and Parliament are currently negotiating.

The EU would invest €100 million into the smaller hubs and €200 million into the larger ones during the first phase. National governments in the countries hosting the gigafactories will match that funding, according to a presentation delivered Tuesday.

National capitals had already complained about the Commission not putting enough money on the table to match its ambitions for the project. The Commission had originally announced the gigafactories would “mobilise” €20 billion in overall funding.

Still, Jensen suggested there could be funding issues at the national level, noting that capitals were currently securing funds on their own.

US in, but not as leads

The EuroHPC JU also provided details on who will control the gigafactories, after EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said that their “majority owners” should be European.

Per Tuesday’s call, companies permitted to be part of a project or subcontract on it could come only from a specific list of countries. However, this list seems to include all OECD countries, which would mean US companies could participate.

The main “coordinators” of each project would, on the other hand, have to be located in the EU and be controlled by Europeans, according to the presentation given during the call.

“It is also extremely important that this is a coordinator that is empowered with decision-making authority for this endeavour,” EuroHPC’s Jensen said. “The coordinator must be the one that has the leadership role within the consortium.”

Still far from building

Jensen also acknowledged concerns that most of the cash going into the gigafactories would, in the end, flow to Nvidia, an American company absolutely dominant in building specialised AI chips.

“We would also very much like to see European hardware included in the proposals,” Jensen said on Tuesday, referring to “up-and-coming” European companies that should be considered where relevant.

All this planning still seems some way off from actually building the data centres.

Companies will likely be formally asked to submit tenders for the gigafactories in July, with the selection closing five or six months later. The first phase would then be built within 18 months, while the eventual expansion is scheduled to take up to 12 months, if and when the money materialises.

(cm, aw)