Móra la Nova competes with 75 rivals to host the AI gigafactory

BrusselsThe battle to get it installed an artificial intelligence (AI) gigafactory in Móra la Nova It won't be easy to win. The European Commission has announced that it has received 76 applications for the installation of these projects, although in total it only plans to create four or five. "This is a very powerful signal that demonstrates the ambition to build a sovereign AI infrastructure in the European Union," European Commissioner for Technological Sovereignty Henna Virkkunen said at a press conference.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that the initiative's goal is to mobilize some €200 billion for the creation of AI gigafactories, and Virkkunen emphasized that the interest of the private and public sectors in the project could lead to the EU's participation. In fact, Barcelona already has one of the first European artificial intelligence factories: it is expected to have a total investment of €198 million and will begin operating this year, with the goal of being fully operational by the end of the year.

Thus, the head of Technological Sovereignty at the European Commission has said that "the official call" will probably open "in November," and that from then on they will begin to study each case and discuss criteria with the actors involved in each candidacy.

In the case of Móra la Nova, the bid was submitted by the Spanish government and a public-private business consortium led by Telefónica. Among the already confirmed members that will participate in the consortium are—in addition to Telefónica—ACS, MasOrange, Nvidia, Submer, and Multiverse Computing, as well as the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), the Spanish government's so-called technological SEPI. According to the Moncloa (Spanish government), the entry of a "major international" investment partner is also being negotiated.

The Spanish government also defended, when presenting the proposal in a statement, that the planned location for the Catalan gigafactory is "a strategic enclave close to the AI factory of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS), a leading European computing node." In fact, the Catalan government explains that the initiative was activated this February by the BSC, the Generalitat (Catalan government), and the Spanish government. "This is when we began exploring the possibility of presenting Catalonia, until we found Móra la Nova as a location that met all the necessary conditions for a facility of these characteristics, both in terms of land availability and electrical power," the Generalitat added in another statement.