EC Launches AI Continent Action Plan

The European Commission launched AI Continent Action Plan. It is expected to push the European Union to become a global leader in AI.

As set out by President Ursula von der Leyen at the AI Action Summit in February 2025 in Paris, this ambitious initiative is set to transform Europe's strong traditional industries and its exceptional talent pool into powerful engines of AI innovation and acceleration. The plan will boost the European Union's AI innovation capabilities through actions and policies around five key pillars.

The first pillar is building a large-scale AI data and computing infrastructure. The EC will strengthen Europe's AI and supercomputing infrastructure with a network of AI Factories. 13 of these factories are already being deployed around Europe's world-leading supercomputers. They will support EU AI startups, industry, and researchers in developing AI models and applications.

The EU will also help set up AI Gigafactories. These will be large-scale facilities equipped with approximately 100,000 AI chips, four times more than current AI factories. Private investment will be further stimulated through InvestAI, which will mobilize €20 billion in investment for up to five AI Gigafactories across the EU. To stimulate private sector investment, the EC will also propose a Cloud and AI Development Act. The goal is to at least triple the EU's data center capacity in the next five to seven years, prioritizing highly sustainable data centers.

The second pillar is to increase access to large and high-quality data. An important element of the Action Plan is the creation of Data Labs, bringing together and curating large, high-quality data volumes from different sources in AI Factories. A comprehensive Data Union Strategy will be launched in 2025 to create a true internal market for data that can scale up AI solutions.

Another part of the strategy is to develop algorithms and foster AI adoption in strategic EU sectors. Despite the potential of AI, only 13.5% of companies in the EU have adopted AI. To develop tailored AI solutions, boost their industrial use and full adoption in EU strategic public and private sectors, the Commission will launch the Apply AI Strategy in the coming months. European AI innovation infrastructure, including notably the AI Factories and the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs), will play an important role in this Strategy.

The penultimate pillar in EC's plan is to strengthen AI skills and talents. To meet the rising demand for AI talent, the ECn will facilitate international recruitment of highly skilled AI experts and researchers through initiatives such as the Talent Pool, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action ‘MSCA Choose Europe' and AI fellowships schemes offered by the upcoming AI Skills Academy. These actions will contribute to legal migration pathways for highly skilled non-EU workers in the AI sector and attract the best European AI researchers and experts back to Europe. It will also develop educational and training programs on AI and Generative AI in key sectors, preparing the next generation of AI specialists and supporting the upskilling and reskilling of workers.

The last key pillar EC plans to implement is regulatory simplification. The AI Act raises citizens' trust in technology and provides investors and entrepreneurs with the legal certainty they need to scale up and deploy AI throughout Europe. The EC will also launch the AI Act Service Desk to help businesses comply with the AI Act. It will serve as the central point of contact and hub for information and guidance on the AI Act.

With this Action Plan, the EC opened two public consultations, running until 4 June 2025, to further shape these AI Continent Action Plan initiatives. The third consultation will begin in May. In parallel, the Commission will organize dialogues with industry representatives and the public sector to help shape the Apply AI Strategy. These dialogues, together with the public consultations, will identify relevant examples of untapped potential in adopting AI technologies in specific sectors, their current integration in business and production processes, and opportunities for scaling up within these sectors and the wider economy.