Europe's €600 Billion AI Infrastructure Gap Widens

Europe's AI infrastructure gap is expected to grow significantly over the next decade, with estimates suggesting it could reach up to €600 billion. This projection comes from a study commissioned by the European Commission, which found that the current capacity gap would increase from around 3 gigawatts in 2025 to approximately 20 gigawatts by 2036.

Euro-area companies are expected to devote around 10% of their total investment to AI in 2026, while AI-related borrowing accounted for about a quarter of the growth in credit to companies in the first quarter of the year. The expansion of AI adoption is also leading to increased demand for computing capacity and data centers.

The European Central Bank's President Christine Lagarde emphasized that Europe needs to expand its own data-center capacity and develop AI models that can operate on European infrastructure, rather than relying on external providers. She noted that the United States produces 59 notable AI models each year, compared with just one in France and the UK.