# Building Europe's Sovereign AI Infrastructure > Europe's AI ambitions will be decided by who controls the facilities, power and supply chains beneath the models. A perspective on what it will take, and how the platform is built to deliver it. URL: https://www.qoreinfra.com/insights/building-europes-sovereign-ai-infrastructure/ Publisher: Qore Infrastructure Partners (https://www.qoreinfra.com) Author: Oliver Spring Published: 2026-10-25 --- Sovereign AI Europe's AI ambitions will be decided by who controls the facilities, power and supply chains beneath the models. A perspective on what it will take, and how the platform is built to deliver it. By **Oliver Spring**25 October 20268 min read ## Key points * Europe hosts about 5% of global AI computing capacity; the European Commission's central scenario sees a 19 GW data centre shortfall by 2036. * Policy is moving from principle to procurement, with sovereignty levels for public-sector cloud and accelerated permitting zones. * Sovereign capacity will be delivered by platforms that combine proprietary access to power, government relationships and industrialised delivery. Over the past year, in conversations with ministers, regulators, sovereign funds and the leadership of the largest AI companies, one question has come up more than any other: where, physically, will Europe's AI run, and who will control it? It is the right question. Sovereign AI is usually discussed in terms of models, data and talent. Each of these matters. But every model runs in a building, on a grid connection, under a legal regime. Sovereignty is decided there, below the model, and Europe is short of exactly that layer. ## The scale of the gap The figures have become hard to ignore. In September 2026, ECB President Christine Lagarde noted that the United States hosts about three-quarters of the world's AI computing capacity and Europe about 5%. Citing the European Commission's impact assessment for the proposed Cloud and AI Development Act, she put EU data centre demand at about 61.5 GW of IT load in 2036, against expected capacity of about 42.5 GW, a gap of about 19 GW in the central scenario. Source: European Commission impact assessment for the proposed Cloud and AI Development Act, as cited by ECB President Christine Lagarde, September 2026. Low and high scenarios put the gap at 12 GW and 23 GW. The Commission's response is equally clear in its ambition: to at least triple EU data centre capacity within five to seven years. ## From principle to procurement What has changed in 2026 is that sovereignty is becoming a procurement criterion rather than a political aspiration. The proposed Cloud and AI Development Act would introduce sovereignty levels for cloud services used by the public sector, rising from EU-located infrastructure and personnel to EU ownership and control, and require public authorities to weigh "Union added value" in cloud and AI tenders. Member states would designate data centre acceleration zones with permitting completed in a maximum of 12 months. In parallel, the EU's AI gigafactories programme seeks more than €30 billion of investment in up to seven very large AI facilities, each expected to begin operating within 18 months of contract signing. National programmes are moving as well: Switzerland's open, multilingual Apertus model, trained on the Alps supercomputer, is one example of a country building capabilities it intends to control. Each of these initiatives creates demand for physical capacity in Europe, under European control, on timelines that most of the market cannot meet. ## Why most of the market cannot meet them The binding constraint is power. The International Energy Agency puts grid connection waits across the EU at two to ten years, and at seven to ten years on average in Europe's traditional hubs. A data centre itself takes one to two years to build. The building is no longer the long pole; the grid connection is. This has a direct consequence for sovereign programmes. A ministry that needs capacity in 2028 cannot start a grid application in 2026 and hope. It needs a partner that already holds confirmed power, can deliver in months rather than years, and can document who owns and controls the facility. ## What it will take From our vantage point, building Europe's sovereign AI infrastructure requires four capabilities to come together in one platform. **Proprietary access to power.** Capacity is being won by those with direct, long-standing relationships with transmission and distribution system operators, utilities and power producers, often before it reaches the open market. At Qore, origination is the core of the platform: every facility enters with grid capacity confirmed in writing, and where generation and land come together we partner directly with power producers, including through joint ventures, as we already do in Germany. **Relationships with governments and institutions.** Sovereign capacity is commissioned by ministries, regional authorities, public institutions and regulated enterprises. Our leadership works directly with governments and economic delegations across Europe, the Gulf and the United States, and engages from strategy and feasibility through to a ready-to-build project and delivery. **Industrialised delivery.** Public programmes cannot wait for conventional construction. Qore Modular, the platform's proprietary factory-built system, integrates power, cooling and rack infrastructure off-site and delivers capacity in six to nine months on confirmed power, in four configurations from container to flatpack, on our facilities or on public estates. **Control by design.** Sovereignty is not only location. It is a documentable chain of ownership, operation and access; security zoning and hardening against drone and electromagnetic threats; and resilience through behind-the-meter generation, storage and microgrid capability. These must be designed in, not added later. ## Owning the infrastructure, not the chip There is one more principle worth stating. Sovereign customers frequently want to select and own their compute, or to work with European cloud providers. A neutral infrastructure owner, one that delivers land, power, building and fit-out but never the chip, gives them that freedom without making them data centre developers. That is the model we have chosen. Qore Infrastructure Partners holds more than 1 GW of power-secured pipeline, including about 640 MW of secured grid capacity across three near-term facilities in Switzerland and Germany, with first new capacity from 2027. It is led by a team with more than $3 billion of data centre project experience across Europe and the United States. Europe will not close a 19 GW gap with ambition alone. It will close it facility by facility, on confirmed power, delivered at industrial speed and under European control. That is the infrastructure we are building. ## Sources 1. [Lagarde warns EU data centre gap could reach 19GW by 2036](https://datacentrereview.com/2026/09/lagarde-warns-eu-data-centre-gap-could-reach-19gw-by-2036/), Data Centre Review, September 2026 2. [The EU Cloud and AI Development Act in depth](https://www.insideglobaltech.com/2026/06/11/the-eu-cloud-and-ai-development-act-in-depth/), Inside Global Tech (Covington), June 2026 3. [EU launches AI gigafactories call to unlock more than €30 billion in investment](https://pulse2.com/eu-launches-ai-gigafactories-call-to-unlock-more-than-e30-billion-in-investment/), Pulse 2.0, August 2026 4. [Overcoming energy constraints is key to delivering on Europe's data centre goals](https://www.iea.org/commentaries/overcoming-energy-constraints-is-key-to-delivering-on-europe-s-data-centre-goals), International Energy Agency, November 2025 5. [Apertus: Swiss open source artificial intelligence](https://www.usi.ch/en/feeds/33046), Università della Svizzera italiana Figures are as reported by the sources above at the time of writing. This article is for general information only and does not constitute an offer, solicitation or investment, legal or tax advice. **Oliver Spring** Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Qore Infrastructure Partners. [Profile](https://www.qoreinfra.com/platform/leadership/#oliver-spring) ## Related * [Sovereign AI facilities](https://www.qoreinfra.com/products/sovereign-ai-facilities/) * [Governments and enterprise](https://www.qoreinfra.com/governments-and-enterprise/) * [Facilities and pipeline](https://www.qoreinfra.com/platform/facilities/) * [Qore Modular](https://www.qoreinfra.com/products/qore-modular/) [Contact the team](https://www.qoreinfra.com/contact/) Insights ## Further perspectives [Market ### Speed to power is now the decisive asset in European data centres With connection queues in Europe's traditional hubs at seven to ten years, the market's scarce input is no longer land or capital but confirmed power before 2030. Implications for origination, valuation and customers.](https://www.qoreinfra.com/insights/power-not-land-decides-europes-ai-map/)[Development ### Underwriting powered land: five tests of readiness Powered land has become a marketing term. For underwriting purposes it is a set of verifiable conditions. The framework we apply before any facility enters the platform.](https://www.qoreinfra.com/insights/what-makes-powered-land-ready/)[Sovereign AI ### Sovereignty is decided below the model: what nations need to control Sovereign AI debates focus on models and data. In practice, sovereignty is determined by jurisdiction, control, security and resilience at the infrastructure layer. A framework for governments and institutions.](https://www.qoreinfra.com/insights/sovereign-ai-what-nations-need-to-own/) --- About the publisher: Qore Infrastructure Partners (QIP) is Europe's power-ready hyperscale and AI data centre platform, headquartered in Zug, Switzerland: Building Europe's Sovereign AI Infrastructure. Website: https://www.qoreinfra.com. Not affiliated with Gcore, QORE Switzerland AG, QORE Global, QORE Finance or Qore (core banking). Nothing on this site is an offer of securities or investment advice.