Initiative overview
Under the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), access to AI compute is provided primarily through the AI Factories programme, which makes AI‑optimised supercomputing capacity available to European researchers, startups, SMEs, industry and public bodies. The initiative focuses on enabling the training and deployment of large‑scale AI models by offering tailored access to high‑performance computing resources combined with technical support.
Rather than offering cash-based cloud credits, EuroHPC provides what functions as an in‑kind compute subsidy. AI startups and SMEs can access supercomputing capacity free of charge for innovation activities through the Industrial Innovation track. This access replaces costs that would otherwise arise from commercial cloud GPU usage, while larger or non‑eligible industrial use cases can obtain compute through pay‑per‑use arrangements.
AI Factories also support publicly funded research and collaborative projects by offering free access to AI compute for scientific applications, including machine learning, foundation models and generative AI. This applies in particular to projects funded under Horizon Europe or the Digital Europe Programme, ensuring that advanced AI workloads can be developed without direct infrastructure costs for eligible users. Access is organised through structured allocation modes that scale from small experimental use to very large GPU‑intensive workloads.
