en.Wedoany.com Reported - Telecom Italia (Tim) has joined the Italian team bidding for one of the four to five AI super factories planned by the European Union. The team is already in an advanced stage, aiming to secure approximately €4 billion of the total €20 billion EU tender. The tender is expected to be officially launched in the coming months, with 30% of the investment coming from the European Commission and member states, and 70% from industrial entities.

Other companies participating in the Italian team include Eni, Leonardo, FiberCop, Fastweb, and Vodafone, while institutional participants include Ai4i di Torino and Cineca di Bologna. The Italian team's formal proposal is expected to be submitted within the next two months, with the EU tender selection process anticipated to be completed by 2026, and the project potentially launching next year.

Following the leadership change at Leonardo and the departure of Roberto Cingolani, Telecom Italia's participation has progressed gradually. From an industrial perspective, Telecom Italia's experience with the National Strategic Center (PSN) and data center management makes its involvement logical. However, while the list of participating companies is becoming clearer, the Italian government has yet to reach a consensus on the location city.

The only certainty so far is Eni's plan to build a large data center near Pavia in the Lombardy region. The area already hosts a green data center and two of the world's most powerful supercomputers, Hpc6 and the newly activated Hpc7. A year ago, Eni also signed an agreement with the UAE's Khazna data center company to build an AI data center campus in Ferrera Erbognone, with a total IT capacity of 500 megawatts, which could serve as the infrastructure for the Italian super factory.

Since last autumn, Italy's bid has followed a "distributed" logic. Initially, Grottaglie near Taranto was also a candidate, hosting a Leonardo base, but the infrastructure would need to be built entirely from scratch. This proposal, once supported by the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (Mimit), appears to have been abandoned. Recently, the delayed release of the EuroHPC tender for super factories has led to various alternative proposals.

Genoa was one of the first cities to put forward its candidacy, leveraging Leonardo's davinci-1 supercomputer and the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT). The Liguria region has its supporters within the government. Alessio Butti, Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers responsible for innovation, highlighted Genoa's central position in the Mediterranean, submarine cables, and local ecosystem as advantages.

Bologna has also been mentioned as a potential location. The city is home to a technology hub featuring numerous supercomputers, including those from Leonardo and an AI factory named It4lia. Among Bologna's machines is Innovate, a small AI supercomputer designed for enterprises, aligning with the super factory concept. Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, responded that Italy's candidacy should be finalized "within the coming weeks."

Meanwhile, in Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function Óscar López met with companies forming the Spanish AI super factory consortium. The consortium includes Banco Santander, ACS, and Telefónica, three main private partners that will collectively hold 47% of the new company's shares, each with 15.67%. With the addition of Multiverse Computing, holding 4% of shares, the private sector will hold 51% of shares and gain effective control of the company. On the public side, the government holds 47.99% through "SEPI Digital," while the Catalan regional government initially holds 1%. The Spanish Council of Ministers also approved a voluntary contribution of €300 million to EuroHPC.

In France, early last month, Ardian announced plans to invest up to €5 billion to build a 500-megawatt digital infrastructure campus near Paris, with the first phase exceeding 200 megawatts expected to be completed by 2030. Last month, Ardian, along with seven other French companies under the leadership of AION, applied to become a candidate for the EU AI super factory, proposing France as the host country. The consortium includes Ardian (which holds shares in INWIT in Italy), Artefact, Bull, Capgemini, EDF, Iliad, Orange, and Scaleway.