European tech elites predict that Europe will lag behind in AI hardware development, yet maintain a competitive edge in AI application development.
In a recent conference in Amsterdam, Dutch tech leaders called for Europe to capitalise on the advanced AI infrastructure provided by US companies, such as NVIDIA, in order to bolster its position as a global leader in AI application development. Jeroen van Glabbeek, CEO and founder of CM.com, led the charge, describing the investment in AI as "the biggest investment in technology in the history of mankind."
The European strategy to leverage US AI infrastructure involves a combination of cutting-edge American hardware and a robust pan-European investment, data governance, and innovation ecosystem. This hybrid approach aims to democratise access to high-performance AI computing resources, enabling a broad range of innovators to participate.
One key aspect of this strategy is the establishment of AI Gigafactories, massive facilities equipped with around 100,000 state-of-the-art AI chips. These Gigafactories serve as shared infrastructure for training and developing complex AI models at scale, accessible to researchers, start-ups, and industries across multiple EU Member States.
NVIDIA, a US company, is partnering with European governments and major tech, telecom, and cloud providers to deploy AI infrastructure across the continent. This collaboration facilitates rapid adoption of cutting-edge AI hardware and optimized AI models, accelerating Europe’s ability to develop and deploy AI applications efficiently.
Europe is also investing in federated Data Labs that link multiple AI Factories and connect to Common European Data Spaces. This strategy addresses the critical need for access to large volumes of high-quality, diverse data—fundamental for training robust AI systems.
The European Commission’s InvestAI fund, totalling €20 billion, encourages collaboration among member states, companies, and research institutions to co-invest in AI infrastructure and applications. This investment framework aims to raise total AI investment to over €20 billion annually, complemented by private sector and member state contributions, reaching an envisioned €200 billion in AI investments overall.
The focus on Europe's AI development extends to high-impact sectors such as healthcare, biotech, climate science, and robotics. By providing accessible infrastructure powered by leading US AI chip technologies within a strong European regulatory and data framework, Europe can accelerate AI innovations in these strategic areas, positioning itself as a global leader both technologically and ethically.
Lucien Burm, President of the Dutch Startup Association, believes the profit lies in the application layer, while Orq.ai, an Amsterdam-based generative AI startup, sees opportunities at the "orchestration and application levels."
The race to dominate AI infrastructure has left Europe trailing the US, with tech giants like Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft planning to spend over $300bn (€261bn) combined on data centres, networking, and cloud services for AI by 2025. However, the speakers at the conference emphasised the opportunities and challenges in Europe's AI development, highlighting the need for financial changes to support Europe's AI ambitions.
As the Conference 2025 concluded, it was clear that Europe is poised to make significant strides in AI application development, capitalising on the US's AI infrastructure and fostering a vibrant, collaborative ecosystem that supports innovation and meets European values and societal needs.
[1] European Commission. (2021). AI Gigafactories: Europe's new AI supercomputing centres. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/digital-single-market/artificial-intelligence/ai-gigafactories_en [2] NVIDIA. (2021). NVIDIA and European governments partner to accelerate AI adoption. Retrieved from https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/about-nvidia/news/nvidia-and-european-governments-partner-to-accelerate-ai-adoption/ [3] European Commission. (2021). InvestEU: Boosting EU investment in innovation and SMEs. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/growth-economy-jobs/investment-and-investment-policy/investeu/what-investeu_en [4] European Commission. (2021). Data Act: A new EU approach to data sharing and re-use. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12526-Data-Act-A-new-EU-approach-to-data-sharing-and-re-use [5] Mistral AI. (2021). Mistral AI: A new European AI company. Retrieved from https://www.mistral-ai.com/
- The European strategy is creating a hybrid system that combines US AI infrastructure with robust investment, data governance, and innovation within Europe, aiming to democratize access to high-performance AI computing resources and foster business growth in AI application development.
- The investment in federated Data Labs and AI Gigafactories, funded by the European Commission's InvestAI fund and private sector contributions, will total €200 billion, positioning Europe as a global leader in AI technology while maintaining ethical standards in high-impact sectors like healthcare, biotech, climate science, and robotics.
