The Commission said it aims to attract at least €20 billion in private investments for the projects. The total was increased ‌from five planned gigafactories ⁠to seven following strong interest from EU countries. They will come on top of the existing 19 AI factories ​in various ​EU countries. "Access to the ​raw scale of computing ‌power within AI Gigafactories is a strategic necessity for Europe as AI development accelerates," EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said in a statement. Consortia or special purpose vehicles made up of technology providers, cloud service providers, public entities ‌and investors can apply to ​take part in the gigafactories.