On 9–11 November 2026 the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking issued a procedural update to its high‑profile AI Gigafactories procurement that will affect consortia across Europe — and candidates in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) specifically. EuroHPC published new submission links on 9 November and said previously saved drafts and tenders in the old portal would not be considered; bids already prepared must be recreated and resubmitted. The contracting authority also revised performance-testing requirements to MLPerf v5.1 on 10 November. (EuroHPC JU; 2eu.brussels).
What changed — dates, tests and money
The procurement, launched on 30 July 2026, originally set a common closing date of 12 November 2026 for both lots. EuroHPC’s update replaced that timetable: large‑scale (Lot 2) tenders are now due by 3 December 2026 and medium‑scale (Lot 1) tenders by 4 February 2027, both at 17:00 CET. The notice says the published call documents remain substantively unchanged but that all drafts and previously submitted files in the old system were discarded and must be refiled through the new links published on 9 November. EuroHPC also updated its technical testing regime to require MLPerf v5.1 benchmarks for training and inference. (EuroHPC JU; 2eu.brussels; EU AIGF tracker).
The technical and funding scale remains large: the call seeks up to seven AI Gigafactories (four medium and three large). Phase 1 minimum compute is set at 25,000 H100‑equivalent accelerators for Lot 1 and 40,000 for Lot 2, rising to 75,000 and 100,000 in Phase 2. The European Commission and participating states expect the programme to mobilise more than €30 billion in combined public and private investment — roughly €10 billion of EU and national public funding to act as anchor, and at least €20 billion in private capital expected to follow. Only Phase 1 public funding (around €1 billion aggregate) is legally committed at present. (Sullivan & Cromwell; DC Market Insights; EuroHPC JU).
How CEE countries have entered the race
Several CEE markets are active in the procedure. Romania’s finance minister said at the Concordia Summit on 6 November 2026 that the government had received two offers to build an AI Gigafactory and that national pre‑selection was in its final stage — though that statement documents national interest and not a confirmed EuroHPC tender submission. Poland, Czechia and other member states have also signalled candidacies or consortium activity in public documents and reporting. The EuroHPC call requires a formal co‑funding commitment from any host Member State, which makes national budget timetables critical — the stated reason behind the medium‑lot extension to February. (EU AIGF tracker; 2eu.brussels).
What this means for the market
The procedural reset alters short‑term timing and the operational workload for bidders. Groups that had already prepared or submitted documentation must re‑create and refile files on the replacement submission links, and teams running benchmarking and acceptance tests must ensure MLPerf v5.1 compliance. That raises costs and calendar risk for consortia that include automotive companies, Tier‑1 suppliers or regional data‑centre operators looking to anchor national compute for vehicle software development, simulation and autonomous driving validation.
For carmakers and suppliers in CEE, the Gigafactories programme is material: a single large‑site Phase‑2 Gigafactory can demand 120–150 MW of IT load and hundreds of thousands of accelerators in later phases, offering a scale of sovereign compute previously unavailable in the region. Access to that capacity — and to the co‑located software and validation services EuroHPC envisages — could shorten model‑training times for advanced ADAS and software‑defined vehicle functions, and make it easier for CEE OEMs and suppliers to run VE‑grade simulation, perception and map‑scale training in‑region. But the procurement’s requirement that host states sign co‑funding letters means national politics and budget cycles will materially influence who wins and when Phase 1 services become available. (Sullivan & Cromwell; DC Market Insights; EuroHPC JU).
Operational details now matter: bidders must meet the revised MLPerf v5.1 test requirements, show binding Phase‑2 scaling roadmaps (75,000–100,000 H100‑equivalents), and arrange the large private finance the call expects. The EuroHPC timetable change also gives governments more time to confirm financing — a likely relief to smaller CEE states that need parliamentary approvals. (EuroHPC JU; 2eu.brussels).
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Sources: EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, 2EU Brussels, EU AIGF tracker, Sullivan & Cromwell, DC Market Insights
