Croatia Without a Single AI Factory in Europe
While the EU builds 19 AI factories and prepares €30 billion for gigafactories, Croatia missed the first wave but recently joined the funding of the next generation.
While the EU builds 19 AI factories and prepares €30 billion for gigafactories, Croatia missed the first wave but recently joined the funding of the next generation.
As Europe rapidly arms itself with computing infrastructure for the development of artificial intelligence (AI), Croatia finds itself at the back of the pack. The Union currently has 19 specialized AI factories, but none are located on domestic soil. Although Croatia joined a group of 18 member states this summer that will jointly invest in future AI gigafactories, it is still unknown whether any of the planned seven will be built right here.
An AI factory is specialized computing infrastructure designed for the development, training, and use of artificial intelligence models. Unlike classic data centers that serve for data storage and running applications, AI factories are optimized for performing the massive number of mathematical calculations required to train AI models.
At their core is a supercomputer equipped with thousands of graphics processing units (GPUs), along with data storage systems, ultra-fast network infrastructure, and teams of experts. AI systems like GPT, Gemini, and Claude undergo training on tens of thousands of GPUs that analyze vast datasets in parallel.
In 2024, the European Union launched the AI Factories initiative through the joint undertaking EuroHPC (European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking) with the goal of reducing dependence on American cloud platforms. However, European investments are just a fraction of what global tech giants are pouring in.
OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank unveiled the Stargate project worth a staggering $500 billion. Microsoft announced capital investments of approximately $80 billion for 2025 in data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence, while Meta plans to invest between $66 and $72 billion for 2026, including the development of the Hyperion AI campus with a capacity of up to 5 gigawatts. In China, Alibaba announced a $53 billion investment in AI and cloud infrastructure by 2028, with Baidu and Tencent making similar moves.
By comparison, the European Union intends to raise a total of around €30 billion through the AI gigafactory initiative, with €10 billion from public sources and at least €20 billion from the private sector.
Although it is a member of EuroHPC and participates in European high-performance computing projects, Croatia has not become the host of any of the 19 centers currently operating in Europe. In the documentation from the European Commission and EuroHPC available to the public, there is no official explanation, but media have repeatedly reported that the state did not secure in time the national co-financing that was a prerequisite for application.
The difference between using infrastructure and hosting it is significant. A country that has an AI factory becomes a hub for new research projects, a gathering place for experts, and fertile ground for startups, while other countries mostly use capacities built elsewhere.
During this summer, Croatia signed an agreement joining a group of 18 member states that jointly finance future European AI gigafactories. In doing so, it took on a financial commitment for the first time to participate in creating the next generation of European AI infrastructure.
However, this does not guarantee that one of the planned seven gigafactories will be built in Croatia. This agreement allows member states to participate in financing and gain access to future computing resources, while locations will be selected through a separate tender announced by EuroHPC. European Commissioner for Technological Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy Henna Virkkunen confirmed in a Netokracija podcast that there is a plan in Croatia to establish a national AI factory and that they are discussing it with the Croatian government. However, she did not specify whether it is just the signed agreement or something more concrete.
AI factories and gigafactories are becoming the new strategic battlefield. Just as electrical grids and highways once determined economic development, supercomputers now take on that role. Croatia missed the first wave but has joined the funding of future capacities. Whether that will be enough to attract its own AI center or whether it will remain just a user of others' infrastructure is a question that will be decided in the coming years.
