14 October 2026

Europe’s AI rulebook is largely written. What it still lacks is the computing power, cloud capacity, connectivity and energy needed to run AI at scale. With the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA) now before Parliament, the European Internet Forum brought together the MEPs leading Parliament’s work on the file, the European Commission and industry to discuss how AI Factories and Gigafactories can attract private capital and reach the wider economy. Speakers also considered how a European preference can strengthen capacity without cutting Europe off from global partners.

Building the Backbone of the AI Economy: Scaling Europe’s High-Performance Infrastructure

Opening Remarks – MEPs Brando Benifei and Diego Solier

Brando Benifei MEP, co-chair of the AI Act Implementation Working Group, stressed that Europe cannot become a leading AI economy by setting standards alone, and that dependencies in cloud and advanced computing leave European companies and public authorities exposed. AI Factories and Gigafactories, he argued, will be judged by what happens beyond their walls: whether they attract private investment and bring AI into manufacturing, healthcare and public services. He described CADA, which aims to at least triple EU data centre capacity in five to seven years, as an important step. He called for any European preference and security requirements to be transparent and proportionate, so that sovereignty widens Europe’s choice rather than isolating it. He also warned that the costs of data centre expansion for grids, land and water must not be passed on to households or local communities.

Diego Solier MEP, co-rapporteur on CADA, called for Europe to move from ambition to execution, warning that it cannot regulate its way into technological leadership. In his view CADA should remove barriers rather than add bureaucracy, by shortening permitting times, improving grid access and giving investors predictability. Energy was his central concern: there can be no AI strategy without an energy strategy, and environmental objectives should allow flexibility and technological neutrality. He described sovereignty as choice, control and resilience rather than the exclusion of non-European companies. On resilience, he argued that the aim is not smaller data centres but fewer single points of failure, and that public money should unlock private investment, not replace it.

Industry views

Carmen Lembo of Qualcomm framed her contribution around a simple question: what is a Gigafactory for? Compute creates potential, she argued, but deployment creates value. Every publicly supported Gigafactory should therefore come with a clear deployment plan identifying which industries will use it and how. Her second point was that Europe needs a connected system rather than a collection of data centres, since training, fine-tuning and inference run across cloud, networks, the industrial edge and devices. Policies on compute, data and connectivity should be planned together rather than in silos. On sovereignty, she said that it is about freedom of choice and avoiding dependence on any single provider rather than where a company comes from. This, in her view, requires interoperability and the ability to integrate new technologies as markets evolve.

Sophie Thibault, General Manager of Lenovo France, saw physical infrastructure as the binding constraint on Europe’s AI ambitions. She cited projections that European AI compute capacity will grow from around 2 to close to 21 gigawatts within five years. Even so, she noted, Europe would hold just over 5% of global capacity, while the United States, at 35 gigawatts today, is expected to reach 255 gigawatts by 2031. Because the AI supply chain is global, she argued that what should matter is not where each component originates but whether infrastructure is governed under European law, meets European security expectations and creates value in Europe. She pointed to Lenovo’s manufacturing in Hungary and its supercomputer deployments in Barcelona, Karlsruhe and Grenoble, built with local partners. Her three asks were to reward deployment rather than compliance alone, to keep the trusted ecosystem broad by judging partners on governance and track record rather than origin, and to think full stack.

Jakob Greiner, Vice President European Affairs at Deutsche Telekom, argued that Europe has not lost the AI race but has lost time. He described how Deutsche Telekom built an industrial AI cloud with Nvidia in Munich within six months. The €1 billion investment brought 10,000 GPUs and raised Germany’s AI compute capacity by 50%, with every layer except the chips supplied by European players, including SAP. Customers range from Siemens to smaller firms such as Agile Robots. On Gigafactories, he welcomed Germany’s planned €800 million contribution but warned that a complex tender and uncertain EU funding pending the next MFF leave investors without planning certainty. He also noted that data centres are largely excluded from energy price relief available to other energy intensive industries. His asks were for the public sector to act as an anchor customer and for binding funding commitments. He also called for a Europe first approach in public procurement, which he openly described as industrial policy, and for a Digital Networks Act that strengthens operators’ capacity to invest.

Europe first, not Europe alone

Reinier van Lanschot MEP, IMCO rapporteur on CADA, opened with recent events, from a cyberattack disrupting supermarkets in the Netherlands to US sanctions on the International Criminal Court, to show that the debate does not happen in isolation. Digital independence and a thriving European business ecosystem go hand in hand, he argued, and public procurement should make the EU an anchor customer that helps European companies scale, without replacing private investment. How Europe builds also matters. He recalled that at a recent meeting, local officials all supported digital independence, yet none wanted a data centre in their constituency, which shows that sustainable building and community involvement are conditions for speed. He added that CADA alone will not be the solution and must work together with the AI Act, the Chips Act and other files. He closed by stating that a European preference is not a closed door, and that legislators must make Europe the best place to build as well as to live.

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