The EU has launched a call for tenders to fund up to seven AI Gigafactories to train AI technologies as part of a bid for European tech sovereignty. The initiative, announced by commissioner Henna Virkkunen on Thursday (30 July), aims to develop advanced AI infrastructure on top of its existing network of 19 AI Factories. Brussels pledged €10bn in funding, of which €4bn was expected to come from an inconclusive next multi-annual budget, matched by at least €20bn in EU-based private tenders. A commission official described it as potentially "one of the biggest" public-private partnerships in the EU, adding that facilities "will follow all the laws that we have, starting from the AI Act." The project seeks to reduce EU dependence on foreign companies for chips and cloud services. The initiative was launched in February 2025 at the AI Action Summit in Paris, with construction expected to start in 2027. The private-led facilities are the central pillar of the AI Continent Action Plan. However, Maria Nowicka, Policy Researcher at Interface, warned that the tender is "quite packed" with requirements "intentionally left open and vague," leaving a risk that individual gigafactories "end up pursuing their own purposes."