AI development on a scale never seen before. Baltic AI GigaFactory may be built in Poland

The European Commission will consider the application for an AI gigafactory in Poland within a few months; the ministry wants to contact the EC in this matter in July, Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Dariusz Standerski told PAP. If the application is rejected, the ministry will "fight for this factory," he added.

In an interview with PAP, the deputy head of the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MC) announced that the European Commission (EC) will consider the application to build an artificial intelligence gigafactory in Poland - Baltic AI GigaFactory - within a few months.

He added that the ministry plans to contact the Commission on this matter in July.

The Commission announced the construction of five to seven gigafactories, he pointed out.

He explained that the first call, which closed on 20 June, received 76 applications from 16 Member States. The applications concern 60 different locations and amount to a total of €230 billion.

"This means that some countries have submitted several applications for one location, following the principle of 'maybe it will work out'," said the deputy head of MC.

He added that after taking into account international consortiums and repeated applications, the target number of countries in which gigafactories could be built would be between 10 and 12.

Standerski explained that the initial recruitment will be used by the EC to plan financing in detail and establish the conditions for the second recruitment, which is to be announced at the end of this year. The next recruitment is to concern specific locations and numbers.

"This is the first of its kind, a completely new initiative of the European Commission, because it is based on the involvement of various companies and countries at the same time. This is something that the Commission has not yet tried when it comes to new technologies," he emphasized.

In his opinion, our country’s application to build a gigafactory is unique on a European scale because it involves the cooperation of several countries in one project: Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

Standerski said MC plans to build the Baltic AI GigaFactory in two stages. The first involves buying microprocessors, which is already happening.

"We must also bear in mind how fast their life cycle is, which is currently around 5 years. However, a new series of microprocessors, based on more modern technologies, enters the market more often than every two years," he noted.

He added that the ministry wants the second stage of construction of the gigafactory to be based on a newer series of microprocessors.

The construction of the Baltic AI GigaFactory is initially planned in a maximum of two locations in Poland, but the ministry has not yet made a final decision on this matter.

"The location will depend on several factors, mainly on the size of the investment and the possibility of fiber-optic connections," Standerski said.

As he said, the challenge is not only the construction of the factory itself, but also the issue of connecting the largest AI centers in Poland and the Baltic countries.

When asked whether it is possible for a gigafactory to be built outside of Poland, Standerski replied: "none of our partners have submitted such a request, so we are not talking about it now."

Asked whether it was possible for the Commission to reject the Polish application, he stressed that the ministry "will fight for this plant". At the same time, he noted that he could not guarantee anything at this stage and - as he said - one should simply wait patiently for the decision.

"Just as we were waiting for the artificial intelligence factory in Poznań, we will also be waiting for the gigafactory," he said.

On June 20, the Ministry of Digital Affairs announced that Poland, together with Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, together with a consortium of private entrepreneurs and research institutes, had submitted an application to the European Commission for the construction of an Artificial Intelligence GigaFactory - Baltic AI GigaFactory.

The project budget is 3 billion euros, and Poland is its leader. The Gigafactory is to be designed to support the development, training, and deployment of very large AI models and applications on an unprecedented scale ; it is to be adapted to both the training and inference needs of AI models.

In February, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU’s €20 billion InvestAI fund would finance five AI gigafactories in the EU. She said the gigafactories would combine massive computing power with low-emission data centers. As of June 20, 16 member states had sent 76 applications.

On Monday, the EC said on its website that the large number of applications received far exceeded the Commission's expectations. It stressed that these applications were not formal notifications but expressions of interest. The aim was to collect early information from respondents, including European industry leaders, private and public investors from Europe and beyond, and member states, it said.

This information is intended to be used to create a non-binding list of potential candidates ready to create a gigafactory.

As reported, the EC intends to invite countries to submit official applications by the end of 2025.

Monika Blandyna Lewkowicz (PAP)

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