Portugal is emerging as a favorable location for data infrastructures, exemplified by the data center in Sines and the strategic positioning of submarine cables connecting Europe with other continents.

Despite facing criticism over excessive regulation that may hinder technological development, some companies are still opting to establish their data centers in Europe, including in Portugal.

Among these new facilities, five data centers will be designed as gigafactories, equipped with Nvidia's powerful graphics chips essential for training large language models.

This partnership positions Mistral as a significant competitor against non-European AI firms like OpenAI, highlighting the strategic importance of local AI development.

Huang expressed concerns that Europe has been lagging behind the United States and China in technological advancements, but he assured that the shortage of AI computing resources will soon be addressed.

However, challenges remain for AI infrastructure expansion in Europe, including limited local capital, reliable energy supplies, and the high costs associated with building large data centers.

During the VivaTech conference in Paris, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced ambitious plans to establish at least twenty AI data centers across Europe, aiming to increase the continent's AI capacity tenfold within the next two years.

Huang emphasized Europe's commitment to enhancing its artificial intelligence infrastructure, noting significant growth driven by both local companies and investments from US cloud providers.

Mistral AI, a French start-up collaborating with Nvidia, plans to deploy 18,000 of Nvidia's latest Blackwell GPUs in a new facility in Essonne, further supporting Europe's technological independence.

A McKinsey report from late 2024 highlighted that an estimated $300 billion in investment is required to scale AI in Europe, with projections indicating that data center energy consumption will nearly triple by 2030.

Nvidia's strategy also includes promoting 'sovereign AI' to reduce reliance on a few dominant US tech companies, further strengthening Europe's AI capabilities.

Overall, Huang's announcements reflect a strong investment in AI infrastructure in Europe, with expectations for substantial growth in the coming years.