Electricity consumption by data centres is set to double by 2030, while energy required for AI chip production soared by more than 350% worldwide between 2023 and 2024.
Demand for AI-driven data centres is booming. While tech giants such as Google, Meta and Amazon are all building their own facilities, governments are also investing in the infrastructure.
In January 2025, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer launched the UK’s AI action plan with investment to speed up the building of more AI infrastructure.
Now the European Commission has launched the AI Continent Action Plan to accelerate AI development in the EU.
One of the key pillars of this plan is to build a large-scale AI data and computing infrastructure. This network of ‘AI factories’ and ‘AI gigafactories’ will be equipped with state-of-the-art AI chips.
These facilities will “lead the next wave of frontier AI models and maintain the EU’s strategic autonomy in critical industrial sectors and science, requiring public and private investments...