Nvidia's Ambitious Vision: Europe to Witness Tenfold Rise in AI Power with New Super Factories

During the VivaTech technology summit in Paris, Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang predicted that Europe's AI computing power is poised for a tenfold increase over the next two years. This prediction is buoyed by plans to establish over 20 "AI super factories" across the continent.

"Europe has recognized the importance of these AI factories," stated Huang. Nvidia, a global leader in AI chip production, noted that the power supply capacity of several new mega data centers being constructed will exceed 1GW, positioning them among the top global facilities.

Huang indicated that the longstanding shortage of AI resources and GPUs faced by researchers and startups would soon be addressed, signifying a promising turnaround in the sector.

Despite Europe's lagging pace in AI infrastructure compared to the US and other regions, Huang emphasized the need for strengthening infrastructure to leverage the UK's vibrant talent pool and startup ecosystem. His European visit is part of his broader strategy to advance the application of AI technologies globally.

Although precise investment figures remain undisclosed, Huang estimated that building an individual AI factory could involve costs as high as $50 billion.

Adding momentum to these developments, the EU announced a dedicated €20 billion fund to construct five AI super factories, each equipped with over 100,000 processors, focusing on next-generation AI model research.

In Paris, Nvidia unveiled several collaborations for AI infrastructure in Europe, including a partnership with French startup Mistral to establish an 'AI cloud platform.' This initiative, named Mistral Compute, will start in Essonne's data center in France, utilizing 18,000 of Nvidia’s latest Grace Hopper chips, with plans for expansion across Europe.

French President Emmanuel Macron lauded this collaboration, framing it as a critical step towards securing digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy, urging European companies to harness this AI computing service.

Nvidia is actively promoting the establishment of national-level AI infrastructure, with Huang advocating for every country to define its AI systems independently. Data serves as the cornerstone for AI, but the priority remains in acquiring technology and building capabilities locally, rather than merely exporting data.

In addition to efforts in various countries, Nvidia’s existing European ecosystem already encompasses 1.5 million developers, 9,600 companies, and 7,000 startups engaged in its ‘startup acceleration program.’

Dion Harris, Nvidia’s director of data center and high-performance computing, emphasized in a briefing session that Europe’s main bottleneck in catching up with the AI wave is infrastructure. Nvidia is deepening engagement with European cloud service providers and telecom operators.