EuroHPC JU’s Mandate Expanded Under New Regulation Amendment

AI Gigafactories

The amendment widens the scope of Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1732, and takes the Europe’s AI Factories initiative to the next level with the AI Gigafactories initiative. The Gigafactories will be state-of-the-art large-scale facilities which offer massive computing power, hosted in energy-efficient data centres supporting the full AI lifecycle, including the development, training and large-scale inference of very large AI models and applications. 

AI Gigafactories will provide advanced AI computing resources to European researchers, startups, and industrial partners. 

Built on an environmentally sustainable compute infrastructure, they will reinforce the European Union’s strategic autonomy and competitiveness in advanced AI technologies. They will facilitate the development of powerful and responsible AI models trained on European data, ensuring safe, trustworthy and ethical AI. 

Quantum Technologies

The new quantum technologies pillar will address the full quantum ecosystem including different application domains of quantum computing and simulation, quantum communication, and quantum sensing and metrology. 

It will strengthen the security, resilience and competitiveness of the European quantum supply chain, while enhancing the EU’s scientific and industrial leadership, strategic autonomy, and technological sovereignty. 

EuroHPC JU will be responsible for implementing the Union’s quantum technology agenda, including research and innovation activities such as the Union’s Quantum Flagship with funds from the Horizon Europe Programme.

Future calls in quantum technologies will be integrated into the EuroHPC JU’s work programme, fostering synergies across HPC and quantum technologies will support fundamental and applied research, the lab-to-fab transition, and the deployment and integration of quantum technologies in world-class infrastructures, building a dynamic, sustainable, and resilient EU quantum ecosystem. 

New Expert Group in Quantum Technologies

Consequently, the EuroHPC JU and its governance structure will adopt changes to include expertise in Quantum Technologies. In the coming months, as part of EuroHPC JU’s Industrial and Scientific Advisory Board, a new EuroHPC Quantum Technologies Advisory Group (QTAG) will be established. 

QTAG will provide input to the JU’s Multi Annual Strategic Plan (MASP), as well as expert advice to the EuroHPC JU’s Governing Board, alongside the existing Research and Innovation Advisory Group (RIAG) and the Infrastructure Advisory Group (INFRAG). 

The EuroHPC JU is currently preparing the implementation of these changes, which are effective of today.  

More info

Regulation - EU - 2026/150 - EN - EUR-Lex

Council Regulation (EU) 2026/150 of 16 January 2026 amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 on establishing the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking

EuroHPC Regulation amended to strengthen Europe’s AI and quantum capabilities | Shaping Europe’s digital future

Background

The EuroHPC JU is a legal and funding entity created in 2018, reviewed a first time in 2021 by means of Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 and in 2024 by Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1732. It brings together the European Union and participating countries to coordinate efforts and pool resources with the objective of making Europe a world leader in supercomputing.   

The EuroHPC JU has already procured 12 supercomputers, distributed across Europe including JUPITER and Alice Recoque, Europe’s first exascale systems. 

European scientists and users from the public sector and industry can benefit from EuroHPC supercomputers via the EuroHPC Access Calls no matter where in Europe they are located, to advance science and support the development of a wide range of applications with industrial, scientific and societal relevance for Europe. 

Currently, the EuroHPC JU is also overseeing the implementation of 19 AI factories (AIF) across Europe, complemented by thirteen AI Factory Antennas, to offer free, customised support to SMEs and startups. 

Additionally, the EuroHPC JU is deploying a European Quantum Computing infrastructure, integrating diverse European quantum computing technologies with existing supercomputers. 

The EuroHPC JU also funds  research and innovation projects to develop a full European supercomputing supply chain, from processors and software to applications to be run on these supercomputers and know-how to develop strong European HPC expertise.