Barcelona to host one of the EU's first seven AI factories

Barcelona will host one of the European Union's first seven Artificial Intelligence (AI) factories.

The European Commission has selected the Barcelona Supercomputing Center to house one of these facilities, which is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2025.

The other AI factories will be located in Bologna (Italy), Kajaani (Finland), Bissen (Luxembourg), Linköping (Sweden), Stuttgart (Germany), and Athens (Greece).

The project will receive historic funding, totaling nearly €200 million: €98 million from the EU, €62 million from the Spanish government, €23 from other countries and €14 million from the Catalan government.

The aim is to democratize access to advanced supercomputing infrastructure, enabling emerging companies, factories, and researchers to benefit from AI technologies.

The project will focus on providing services for public administration, as well as the health, biotechnology, finance, agriculture, climate, and energy sectors.

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center will lead the initiative, with collaboration from Portugal, Turkey, and Romania.

Spain's Science Minister, Diana Morant, said that the initiative will position Spain as "a leading country in the development of AI, both in the public and private sectors."