The European Union has announced an ambitious plan: allocating around $30 billion to deploy gigawatt-scale data centers specifically designed for artificial intelligence. This represents one of the continent’s largest-ever digital infrastructure investments, and a decisive step to avoid falling behind the United States and China in the global race for AI dominance.

These new facilities aim not only to expand Europe’s computing capacity but also to ensure technological sovereignty. Artificial intelligence requires colossal processing and energy resources, and until now, Europe has largely depended on infrastructure located outside its borders. With this plan, Brussels seeks to consolidate its own ecosystem capable of training large-scale models and supporting critical applications in strategic sectors such as healthcare, mobility, defense, and energy.

Beyond sheer capacity, the project is structured around sustainability. The next generation of data centers will run on renewable energy, employ more efficient cooling systems, and adhere to mandatory environmental impact metrics. The goal is twofold: accelerate the advancement of AI without undermining the EU’s climate commitments.

The EU’s move is also political. In a geopolitical landscape defined by technological rivalry, the investment strengthens Europe’s digital autonomy and its negotiating power with global tech giants. At the same time, it provides startups and universities across the continent with fertile ground for innovation, reducing dependence on external resources and curbing the brain drain toward Silicon Valley or Asia.

Building gigawatt-scale data centers is both an industrial challenge and a statement of intent. Europe does not want to limit its role to regulating artificial intelligence—it seeks to play a leading role in its infrastructure. The $30 billion investment is, therefore, not only an economic commitment but also a strategic message: Europe intends to be an AI power, not just an AI referee.

Source: El País – “The EU Invests $30 Billion in Gigawatt-Scale AI Data Centers”