EU Commission Proposes ‘AI Factories’ to Grant European Startups Access to Supercomputers
OpenAI and Microsoft, along with other US startups, have dominated the artificial intelligence (AI) landscape, leaving European startups like Mistral AI and Aleph Alpha concerned about falling behind in the race. The European Union (EU) Commission aims to address this issue by introducing a new plan that includes the establishment of AI factories to provide support to startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing trustworthy AI.
To make access to AI-specific supercomputers easier for startups and SMEs, the EU Commission proposes to reform the EuroHPC regulation, which was introduced in 2021 to develop high-performance computing capacities within the EU. Additionally, a central point of contact will be established to assist startups and innovators in obtaining access to these supercomputers.
The concept of AI factories encompasses the provision of essential resources for AI development, including computing power, data, algorithms, and talent. These factories aim to serve as a one-stop shop for Europe’s AI startups, enabling them to create advanced AI models and industrial applications. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton emphasizes the goal of making Europe the world’s premier destination for trustworthy AI. Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the EU Commission, supports granting SMEs and startup companies privileged access to the network of European supercomputers.
However, the success of this plan relies on securing adequate funding. The AI factories will receive financial support through Horizon Europe and the Digital Europe program for generative AI. The EU Commission states that this package will generate additional public and private investments totaling approximately €4 billion by 2027. Although this amount appears substantial, it pales in comparison to the financial resources provided by OpenAI alone, which exceeds $10 billion. Nonetheless, these investments will be spread across numerous companies, with the aim of mobilizing further risk capital for startups through programs like the EIC Accelerator and InvestEU.
European supercomputers, such as LUMI in Kajaani, Finland, are poised to play a critical role in the initiative. LUMI, operated by HP and the IT Center for Science (CSC), achieves a peak performance of 539 petaflops. In comparison, Meta Platforms and Nvidia’s collaborative project, the AI Research SuperCluster (RSC), is estimated to reach a peak of 1,895 petaflops. Silo AI, a Finnish AI startup, already has access to LUMI and aims to develop the world’s largest open-source language model.
The computing power used for training AI models is of legal significance. According to the AI Act, this computing power is categorized as a systemic risk and is measured in terms of Floating Point Operations (FLOPs). Any computing power surpassing 10^25 FLOPs is considered a systemic risk. Achieving 10^25 FLOPs already places the computation power in the yottaflops range, which exceeds the petaflops level.
It is important to note that the EU Commission’s initiative is still in the early stages and requires approval from the European Parliament and the Council. These bodies will review the proposed changes to the EuroHPC Regulation.
The EU Commission’s proposal for AI factories offers hope for European startups seeking to compete with dominant players in the AI sector. By easing access to supercomputers and providing financial support, the EU aims to foster the development of trustworthy AI models and industrial applications. However, the road ahead will require further collaboration and investment to ensure Europe remains at the forefront of AI innovation.
