EU issues tenders for seven data centers with up to 40,000 GPUs, scaling back sovereign infrastructure plans
Story Overview
The European Union is now seeking bids to build seven more modest AI data centers instead of the five massive gigafactories once envisioned, with four sites needing at least 25,000 GPUs and three requiring at least 40,000. Private investors would cover most of the cost while public subsidies top out at one-third, a clear retreat from earlier €20 billion ambitions that drew far less interest than hoped.
Smaller footprints may steer model choices
With the reduced scale, observers note the setup could naturally tilt toward smaller or more efficient AI models rather than the largest training runs, though that link remains unconfirmed in the tender details themselves.
Europe's competitiveness edge stays unclear
How these scaled-back facilities will stack up against U.S. and Chinese hyperscale builds, or whether bidder numbers will rebound from the drop to roughly ten expected participants, is still unknown.
Many users mocked Europe's scaled-down AI data center tenders as a sign of inevitable decline and lost competitiveness, while some welcomed the smaller plans as a pragmatic way to cut waste on unworkable ambitions.
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Europeans continue to robustly lead in AI safety and regulations that's the complementary strength Ursula alluded to… the West needs both wings to fly. The posthumanist San Franciscan technocapital devouring the lightcone, and the small quirky GDPR-compliant mid from Brussels…
"only tiny baby kawaii models allowed, the big ones scare me"
civilizational cuck chair
"only tiny baby kawaii models allowed, the big ones scare me"
.@DadaJudith: "The EU really should do something about the data center problem"
The EU:
"only tiny baby kawaii models allowed, the big ones scare me"
@Jsevillamol please adopt me
I need to leave this continent
🤦
@dioscuri bijou-2b-net0
@sebkrier I believe the approved term is bijou
@sebkrier “BLM” as a term is not ideal ofc as it could get confused with other things that share the same acronym, like, um, the Bureau of Land Management. So let’s go with BML — “bijou modèle de langage”.
@Jsevillamol I think this is good, really. The whole scheme is unworkable, finding ways to minimize waste without losing too much face seems fine.
@sebkrier I keep laughing at this and kind of controlling myself and then erupting in laughter again. This is like that Tenacious D sketch: "I'm trying to watch my figure...I need a six piece chicken nuggets, but with four chicken nuggets. If I could get half coke and half diet coke..."
@xeophon 😭😭😭
@xeophon @DadaJudith in fairness they likely can’t spare the power for anything significant anyway
@sebkrier I believe the approved term is bijou
@sebkrier 🥺🥺🥺
@sebkrier Covered that, ZoroWoods strikes again. Sovereign Ai and its Paradoxes http://youtu.be/MWhfi7D1cWI?si… via @YouTube
@sebkrier did someone say big
@sebkrier Absolutely diabolical of the thoughtception here. Today I thought the thought 'Babe I love your tiny baby kawaii models....'
@xeophon @DadaJudith You can actually smell the losing
@sebkrier They were scared by Le Chaton Fat
@xeophon @DadaJudith They don’t even understand what the problem is. French financial press compares 60m to AMD ( or 100m to broadcom) with 300m to oracle or 250m to Microsoft
@dioscuri @sebkrier “Je suis passé.” — Arsène Lupin Only a bijou-sized model could steal this elegantly.
@sebkrier lmao only 100k GPUs