The Netherlands has officially applied to join the European InvestAI Gigafactory. Entrepreneur Han de Groot, who is involved through De Groot Family Office and is the initiator of AI Gigafactory.NL, announced this on LinkedIn.
The AI gigafactories are part of a European program with a total investment exceeding €20 billion. The aim is to significantly strengthen the private infrastructure for artificial intelligence in Europe, thereby catching up with the United States and China in the field of AI computing power.
The deadline for the final application is December. According to De Groot, the Netherlands is currently in the running and has about six months to finalize the proposal. The situation is complicated by the fact that the Netherlands currently has a caretaker government, which makes official support more complex.
Rotterdam as the location
The AI gigafactory is to be located in South Holland, near Rotterdam, according to De Telegraaf. De Groot has not yet disclosed the exact location. The Dutch AI gigafactory is to be twenty times larger than the smaller AI factories, thirteen of which are being built in Europe. The Netherlands is also in the running for one of these smaller factories.
According to the LinkedIn post, there is broad support for the initiative from both the business community and academia. Former ASML CEO Peter Wennink and Peter van Burgel, CEO of AMS-IX, are among those backing the plans. The consortium also includes organizations such as Eneco, ING, ABN AMRO, TU Eindhoven, Erasmus MC, and various other institutions.
Although only five consortia from Europe will be selected for the subsidy, each participant plays an important role. The European competition is fierce. Countries such as Germany, France, Austria, the Czech Republic, Spain, Sweden, and Italy have also submitted applications.
It is striking that, according to De Groot, the German application has recently been put on hold. Internal differences of opinion are the reason for this. De Groot, therefore, proposes being open to cross-border cooperation, for example, in a Dutch-German model, to increase joint clout.