EU seeks to boost investments in supercomputers, AI

BRUSSELS - The European Commission proposed on Wednesday to spend 9.2 billion euros ($10.83 billion) on the European Union's (EU) first digital program to prioritize investments in supercomputers and artificial intelligence (AI).

The Digital Europe program, part of the next long-term EU budget 2021-2027, will see 2.7 billion euros go to supercomputers, 2.5 billion to AI, and 2.0 billion to cyber security. Other areas of investments include digital skills and digital transformation of public administration and public services.

Specifically, the program aims to deploy a world-class supercomputer and data infrastructure with exascale capabilities (a billion billion calculations per second) by 2022/2023, and post exascale facilities by 2026/2027.

For AI, the Commission proposed to develop common 'European libraries' of algorithms that would be accessible to all, to help the public and private sectors.

For cyber security, the program will help build equipment and infrastructure as well as supporting skills and knowledge to safeguard social, economic and political order.