The Council of Ministers approved a series of measures that boost Portuguese investment to instal and operate an AI Gigafactory, a strategic infrastructure for Europe’s technological sovereignty, economic competitiveness, and digital transformation. Portugal will be part of an Iberian bid in the European EuroHPC programme to set up seven AI gigafactories in Europe. 

The Portuguese investment in acquiring computing time may reach a 200-million-euro cap in the project’s first stage, a sum that will be matched by EuroHPC. This model enables the allocation of up to 400 million euros in joint investment in this stage to develop the infrastructure’s computational capabilities during the first phase of development. If the bid is selected by the European Commission, the investment will be matched in terms of European funding, with the rest paid by private partners.

“This gigafactory guarantees that Portugal will have sovereign capabilities in producing artificial intelligence”, stated the Minister in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister and of State Reform Gonçalo Matias.

This infrastructure will enable the State to have its own computing capabilities for artificial intelligence applications, ensuring the most sensitive data remain under national control and in compliance with European security and trust rules.

The installed capacity will likewise be made available for small and medium-sized enterprises, start-ups, researchers, and Public Administration, fostering the adoption of artificial intelligence, increasing productivity, and boosting innovation in different sector of the economy.

The initiative fulfils the goals set under the National Agenda for Artificial Intelligence and the National Plan for Data Centres, contributing to the creation of a national artificial intelligence ecosystem based on own computational capabilities, innovation, competitiveness, and strategic autonomy. The total investment envisaged for the Portuguese part of the project is estimated at around 4 billion euros.