Toelichting bij COM(2025)414 - Amending Council Regulation 2021/1173 on establishing the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking

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dossier COM(2025)414 - Amending Council Regulation 2021/1173 on establishing the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking.
bron COM(2025)414 EN
datum 15-07-2025


1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

• Reasons for and objectives of the proposal

Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 1 repealing Council Regulation (EU) 2018/1488 2 establishes the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking and sets out its mission and objectives. The Joint Undertaking’s mission is to develop, deploy, extend and maintain in the Union a world-leading federated, secure and hyper-connected supercomputing, quantum computing, service and data infrastructure ecosystem; to support the development and uptake of demand-oriented and user-driven innovative and competitive supercomputing systems based on a supply chain that will ensure the availability components, technologies and knowledge and limit the risk of disruption, and the development of a wide range of applications optimised for these systems; and, to widen the use of this supercomputing and quantum computing infrastructure to a large number of public and private users, and support the twin transition and the development of key skills for European science and industry.

Since 2021, when the Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 was adopted, the field of artificial intelligence (AI) has seen enormous technical progress and became a key strategic and highly competitive domain globally. In particular, large AI general purpose models have emerged as vital drivers of economic competitiveness and innovation. They have become pivotal in enhancing productivity across diverse sectors and transform entire value chains, thus dictating future economic value capture. The next generation of frontier AI models are expected to unlock a leap in capabilities, towards Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) capable of tackling highly complex and diverse tasks, matching human capabilities. Regions capable of developing and implementing these AI models at scale will lead in global innovation and attract premier talent. At the same time, sectors at the forefront of science and industry, such as biotechnology, climate, automotive AI, and aerospace, demand substantial computing resources to undertake major AI-driven scientific discoveries and industrial innovations.

Following the adoption of the AI Innovation Package in February 2024 3 , Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 was amended in June 2024 creating a new pillar of activities for the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, enabling it to acquire, upgrade and operate AI factories.

The most advanced of these AI Factories in Europe will be equipped with supercomputers featuring up to 25,000 advanced AI processors, allowing only to develop middle-range AI models. Significant investments are therefore needed to scale up Europe’s computing capacities to the next level.

On 9 April 2025, the Commission launched the AI Continent Action Plan 4 5 to position Europe as a global leader in AI. A core pillar of this strategy is boosting the Europe-wide infrastructure for training advanced AI models taking the 2024 AI Factories concept up to the next level.

The development of the next generation of frontier AI models is expected to require large-scale facilities, exceeding at least by three to four times the number of the most advanced AI processors available in the most powerful AI Factories, while taking into account power capacity, as well as energy, water efficiency and circularity. They will be capable of developing, training, and deploying very large AI models and applications at an unprecedented scale (e.g., AI models in the order of hundreds of trillions of parameters).

AI Gigafactories will provide a world-class AI compute infrastructure for European researchers, entrepreneurs, the public sector and industries. They shall strengthen the European industry, enable the development of entirely new AI solutions and ensure the EU's competitiveness and sovereignty as an AI continent in line with the Competitiveness Compass 6 . The public interest in co-investing with industry players in AI Gigafactories lies in expanding and strengthening the European AI compute infrastructure so that the next generation of AI models and applications for scientific, public and industrial use can be developed, implemented and put into application in Europe. Just as the AI Factories, the AI Gigafactories will be open to researchers, stakeholders from the public sector, startups and industry across Member States, under specific access conditions.

The existing mechanisms within Regulation 2021/1173 are not fully equipped today to support the establishment of the AI Gigafactories. A targeted amendment is therefore necessary to provide the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking with the necessary legal basis to be able to meet the commitments regarding setting up of AI GigaFactories in Europe. The amendment will further specifically mandate the Joint Undertaking to perform activities for the implementation of AI GigaFactories while also accommodating for their specificities.

The amendment also provides an opportunity to introduce strategic provisions related to quantum technologies, in line with the European Quantum Strategy. Quantum technologies, comprising quantum computing, communication, sensing, and metrology are emerging as a strategic field for the Union, with the potential to reshape key industries and societal applications, and to have a large impact on the Union’s industrial competitiveness and technological sovereignty. The Union has made substantial investments in this domain. There is a need now to further coordinate and implement a pan-European quantum research, innovation and industrialisation agenda that capitalises on existing strengths and aligns all efforts around shared priorities. It is becoming increasingly important for Europe to translate its scientific excellence and innovation potential into real market opportunities and thereby contribute to the objectives of the Competitiveness Compass.

This amendment reinforces the current mandate of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking on quantum technologies to:

·Support the development of a full European quantum ecosystem, covering research, innovation, infrastructure deployment, skills, and industrial capabilities;

·Ensure synergies between quantum and classical HPC infrastructures, notably for hybrid systems, simulations, and co-development platforms;

·Promote Europe's technological sovereignty, by reinforcing capabilities in quantum-enabling components and reducing dependencies in critical areas;


• Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area

The objective of this proposal is to widen the scope of Council Regulation 2024/1732 in order to enable the Union to respond to new technological developments and strategic imperatives, namely the significant scale-up of AI-optimised compute capacity in Europe, as well as to align Member States around shared priorities in quantum technologies by redressing the existing fragmentation of quantum programmes across countries in the Union.

• Consistency with other Union policies

This proposal is fully in line with other Union policies, especially those policies enacted under the Commission priority ‘A prosperous and competitive Europe’.

2. LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY

• Legal basis

The legal basis of the Joint Undertaking is Article 187 and the first paragraph of Article 188 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

• Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)

Inhoudsopgave

1.

The subsidiarity principle applies insofar as the proposal does not fall under the exclusive competence of the Union.


The Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 covers the subsidiarity principle as its objectives, namely the strengthening of research and innovation capabilities, the acquisition of supercomputers and quantum computers, and access to high performance computing, quantum computing and data infrastructure across the Union by means of a Joint Undertaking, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, but can rather, by reason of avoiding unnecessary duplication, retaining critical mass and ensuring that public financing is used in an optimal way, be better achieved at Union level.

To serve the ambitions of industrial leadership and of the AI Continent Action Plan, the Regulation establishing the Joint Undertaking requires a targeted amendment enabling the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking to accommodate the specificities of the AI Gigafactories and to implement the EU’s quantum strategy.

Due to the nature of quantum and AI and the magnitude of investments required for the AI Gigafactories and quantum technologies, to keep Europe’s edge in these critical technologies can only be achieved by common action at Union level.

• Proportionality

The proposed amendment complies with the principles of proportionality as set out in Article 5, paragraph 4 of the Treaty on the European Union.

• Choice of the instrument

The creation and operation of a Joint Undertaking in which the Union participates requires a Council Regulation, to which an amendment is now being proposed.

3. RESULTS OF EX-POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

• Ex-post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation

This is an amendment to an existing Regulation. The proposed targeted amendment to the Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 is the only way to fulfil the political commitment announced by President von der Leyen at the AI Summit in February 2025 of setting up the AI GigaFactories, as well as the implementation of the EU’s Quantum Strategy. No ex-post evaluation or impact assessment has been performed.

• Stakeholder consultations

Stakeholders have been extensively consulted for the purpose of the amendments regarding the AI Gigafactories:

–a debate with the EuroHPC Participating States in the EuroHPC Governing Board,

–structured discussions with key public and private players of relevance for the initiative, including government representatives, Union and international companies, and private as well as public funding institutions, such as the European Investment Bank Group,

–a Call for Expression of Interest (CfEI) running from 9 April until 20 June 2025. This call invited ideas from across Europe, helping to identify potential consortia and gather the insights needed to refine the framework for AI Gigafactory development.

2.

Due to very targeted nature of the amendments to the Regulation, which already mandates the EuroHPC JU to act in the field of AI and quantum, there is no need to conduct an Impact Assessment.


For quantum technologies, the amendment reflects inputs gathered through the public call for evidence conducted as part of the preparation of the European Quantum Technologies Strategy.

This consultation, launched by the European Commission, gathered contributions from a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including research organisations, industry representatives, national authorities, and civil society, and highlighted the importance of coordinated Union action to support the development of a comprehensive quantum ecosystem. Key priorities identified include: long-term research investment, infrastructure development, skills and education, industrial deployment, and international collaboration.

Additional inputs were also received through the following two channels:

–A debate with representatives of the Quantum Technology Coordination (Expert) Group 7 where all the Member States are participating;

–Intense interactions with expert working groups from all the Member States that were set up under the coordination of the Quantum Technology Coordination Group. The expert working groups issued a report 8 presenting a set of shared strategic priorities and recommendations guiding the development of quantum technologies in Europe.

These inputs have helped inform the inclusion of quantum technologies in this amendment, ensuring coherence with stakeholder expectations and with the broader strategic direction of the Union in digital technologies.

4. BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS

Additional funds from Horizon Europe, Connecting Europe Facility, Digital Europe will be channelled to the EuroHPC JU to implement the AI Gigafactories and the Union quantum strategy.

5. OTHER ELEMENTS

• Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal

The amendment to the Regulation enlarges its scope in order to expand the objective of the Joint Undertaking related to development and operation of AI Gigafactories in Europe that will be federated with the AI Factories.

The objective addresses the unique considerations and requirements associated with the establishment of such ultra-scale AI data and compute infrastructure facilities necessary for training and deploying very large AI models and applications in the Union. It should be clarified that the amendments introduce the inclusion of AI Gigafactories within the scope of the Regulation.

This amendment responds to the major technological developments in the field of AI that have taken place since the original Regulation came into force in 2021 and since the previous amendment in 2024.

These developments are reflected in the amended Articles of the Regulation. Article 2(3d) presents the definition of an AI Gigafactory.

Article 3(2)(h) presents its new objective to support the establishment of Artificial Intelligence Gigafactories, in support of the further development of a highly competitive and innovative Artificial Intelligence ecosystem in the Union.

Article 4(1)(i) defines the Joint Undertaking’s new AI Gigafactory pillar of activity.

Articles 5 is amended to reflect the increase and use of the Union financial contribution.

Article 12b is introduced to govern the location of an AI Gigafactory, conditions for eligibility of the public-private consortia seeking to host AI Gigafactories, rules pertaining to the share and conditions of the Union and EuroHPC Participating States’ funds contributing to the establishment of AI Gigafactories, evaluation criteria for the selection of AI Gigafactories, criteria for the public access time etc.

Article 16(1) is amended to allow the use of EuroHPC supercomputers for civilian and security applications.

The amendment will also take into account the implementation of the European quantum strategy by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking.

A new definition is added (Article 2, point 19a) introducing the concept of a “national quantum Competence Centre”, understood as a legal entity or consortium established in a participating country, offering access to quantum technologies, tools, services, and infrastructures. These centres aim to support users from industry, academia, and public administrations, and to promote skills development, training, networking, and outreach activities related to QT.

Article 3(1) is amended to present the Joint Undertaking’s updated mission to support the development and uptake of demand-oriented and user-driven innovative and competitive supercomputing systems and quantum. Article 3(2)(fa) presents the Joint Undertaking’s new objective to support state-of-the-art scientific and applied research and innovation in quantum technologies.

The amendment also adds a new point (j) to Article 4(1), establishing a Quantum Technologies Pillar that addresses the entire European quantum ecosystem, including quantum computing, simulation, communication, sensing, and metrology.

The scope of actions covers:

·Scientific research and technological innovation in quantum domains;

·Industrialisation and scale-up of quantum technologies, including support to startups and disruptive innovation;

·Development of a network of national quantum competence centres, uptake of quantum applications in strategic sectors, and standardisation;

·Skills development and mobility, fostering a strong and inclusive quantum workforce;

·International cooperation aligned with Union external policy.

To help the EuroHPC JU to implement the quantum strategy, article 4 of the annex introduces the notion of Quantum Strategy Advisory Group and article 14b of this same annex details the tasks expected by the Quantum Strategy Advisory Group.