European Union adopts new regulation to promote AI factories under the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking
Effective July 9, the European Union's new regulation seeks to strengthen its European supercomputing infrastructure, fostering innovation in artificial intelligence across public and private sectors. Moreover, it seeks to offers favorable access conditions for start-ups and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
On June 17, the Council of the European Union approved an amendment to the regulation governing the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC Joint Undertaking) to include the development and operation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) factories. This amendment is in line with the objectives proposed by the AI Regulation will be effective from July 9.
What are the specifics of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking Regulation?
Established in 2018, the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking is dedicated to developing a world-class supercomputing infrastructure. It combines resources and expertise from the European Union (EU), European countries, and private sector partners.
The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking is primarily committed to (i) developing, implementing, expanding, and maintaining a secure and connected ecosystem of data infrastructure and supercomputing services within the EU, (ii) promoting the development of a supercomputing system that meets user demands and preferences; (iii) the development of optimized applications, and (iv) the expansion of the use of this supercomputing infrastructure to a wide range of public and private users.
Supercomputing has numerous useful applications, including: (i) medical research, (ii) anticipate weather conditions and monitoring climate change, (iii) combatting cybercrime, and (iv) strengthening cybersecurity to protect critical infrastructures.
Since its establishment, the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking has procured nine supercomputers located across Europe, including in Portugal.
What Are AI Factories?
AI factories are entities that provide AI supercomputing service infrastructure. These factories should include a dedicated AI supercomputer, an associated data center, and AI-oriented supercomputing services.
These AI-dedicated supercomputers will primarily be used to develop and test training models, applications, and solutions in the AI field.
The activities conducted at AI factories will be accessible to both public and private users, with specific access conditions for start-ups and SMEs.
What are the key changes introduced by the Regulation amendment?
The amended Regulation now provides for the possibility for the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking to develop and operate AI factories. This will allow the Joint Undertaking to conduct activities involving the acquisition and operation of AI-optimized supercomputers, contributing to machine learning and the training of general-purpose AI models.
The amendment also foresees a financial contribution from the EU for entities hosting AI factories, covering up to 50% of the acquisition costs of AI-dedicated supercomputers and up to 50% of their operational costs.
This advancement in the EU's supercomputing capacity will increase accessibility for European start-ups and SMEs, enabling them to train their AI models and develop their projects in this field.
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