By Alexia Sotiriou

The European Union has launched a call for proposals to select up to seven artificial intelligence gigafactories, paving the way for Greek utility PPC to submit a bid for a facility in Western Macedonia. The initiative will provide up to 10 billion euros in funding from the EU and member states, with the aim of mobilising at least 20 billion euros in private investment. Total investment is expected to exceed 30 billion euros.

PPC submitted an expression of interest in July 2025, proposing to develop an AI gigafactory in the former lignite mining region of Kozani. The utility is expected to participate in the formal bidding process either independently or as part of a consortium, potentially with partners from another EU member state. The project has the backing of the Greek government and forms part of a broader strategy to transform Western Macedonia into a hub for energy- and technology-related investments following the region’s transition away from lignite.

Separately from the EU initiative, PPC has already included a 300-megawatt data centre in Western Macedonia in its 2026-2030 investment plan. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2026, with operations expected to begin by the end of 2028. The project carries an estimated capital cost of 1.2 billion euros and is part of the utility’s 24.2 billion-euro strategic investment programme.

PPC is also holding confidential talks with leading hyperscale cloud providers. Among the companies it has engaged with is Meta, which said this week that future lease commitments, primarily for AI data centres, totalled 279 billion dollars.

The AI gigafactories will combine advanced processors, cloud infrastructure, high-speed connectivity and energy-efficient data centres to support the training, inference and fine-tuning of advanced AI models. Their computing capacity will be made available to startups, scale-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises, industrial companies, universities, research organisations and public authorities. The new facilities will complement the network of 19 AI factories already being developed across Europe. The programme allows bids from consortia or special-purpose vehicles involving companies, public bodies and investors, including cross-border partnerships. The funding scheme is split into two categories. Up to four projects will receive EU funding of up to 100 million euros during the initial phase and a further 400 million euros during expansion. Up to three larger projects will be eligible for 200 million euros initially and an additional 800 million euros in a second phase.

Member states will match the EU’s financial contribution. Greece is among 18 countries participating in a joint procurement agreement under the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, which, together with participating countries, will jointly purchase access to the selected facilities. According to the European Commission, 76 expressions of interest covering 60 sites across 16 member states were submitted during the preliminary phase.

The deadline for proposals is Nov. 12, 2026. Successful projects are expected to be selected in early 2027, with construction due to begin later that year and operations scheduled to start within 18 months of contract signing.