The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Commission have signed a Memorandum of Understanding pledging to support the development of AI ‘gigafactories,’ or data centers, across the European Union.

The EIB will “explore possibilities” to issue loans that will supplement the €20bn ($23bn) in data center grants that were announced in February of this year as part of the European Commission’s €200 billion ($209bn) InvestAI initiative.

Details about the loan amounts were not disclosed, but European Commission EVP for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, said that this would constitute “unprecedented capital.”

The grant could be disbursed to up to five AI data centers that will run on around 100,000 of the “most advanced AI chips.” If five are built, the grants will average out to around €5bn ($5.8bn) per data center.

The memorandum also mentions that the EIB and the European Commission will provide “advisory support” through the InvestEU Advisory Hub.

These grants have proven immensely popular – in October, the EU said that it had received 76 grant applications to set up data centers across 16 of its Member States – and last week’s announcement indicates that the organization is willing to throw its weight behind the project.

In October, the pair signed another agreement with the European Investment Fund pledging to set out a framework boosting cooperation between project participants. At the time, the EIB said that it would work with the Commission to assess relevant proposals in view of potential financing opportunities.

Just yesterday, the European Council also agreed on an amendment to the regulatory framework governing the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), which was the precursor to the InvestAI initiative.

This amendment will clear up rules relating to funding and procurement, and it will also allow unused EU funds to be redirected to the ‘gigafactories.’

Under the EuroHPC JU, the EU currently operates 19 'AI Factories' that enterprises can apply to source compute from.

The EU’s enthusiasm for data center-driven growth, as well as pressure from businesses, has also led the organization to consider watering down and delaying the implementation of key regulatory legislation pertaining to AI, known as the AI Act.