Three Polish consortia to compete for AI gigafactory

The race for Poland's artificial intelligence gigafactory is taking concrete shape. Deputy digitalization minister Dariusz Standerski said that three domestic consortia are preparing to enter the EU tender for building an AI computing center, and will compete against each other for a spot in the European Commission's gigafactory program.

What the deputy minister revealed

Standerski said plainly that the ministry is tracking market moves and is aware that three separate consortia interested in entering the tender are taking shape. Rather than naming a favorite, the ministry says it is staying neutral and leaving the competition to the companies themselves. The ministry has not yet disclosed the full lineup of any consortium, though it is known which companies have openly confirmed their interest.

I've heard that three consortia are forming in Poland that will compete to build the gigafactory, so may the best one win - Dariusz Standerski, deputy digitalization minister

Who could join the race

Beyond.pl, owned by Sebastian Kulczyk and described as Poland's only commercial operator of a computing center dedicated to AI, has gone furthest in its statements. Allegro has said it supports the idea of the project but is waiting for final business and strategic decisions before formally committing. Orange Polska says it is closely watching the consortium-forming process and will decide based on how the situation develops.

None of these companies has yet confirmed formally joining a specific consortium, suggesting the balance of power could still shift before the November bid deadline.

What's at stake

The European Commission's AI gigafactory program envisions building seven such facilities across the EU, including three large-scale and four medium-scale ones. Poland is bidding for one of the medium-scale projects, which would need at least 75,000 specialized AI accelerators and would serve as a regional computing hub for Central and Eastern Europe. The European Commission is expected to decide the tender around the turn of 2026 and 2027, with contracts for the winning consortia to be signed in early 2027. The center itself is planned to launch in 2028, with roughly 18 months expected between signing the contract and going live.

Funding and a special law

The total value of the project exceeds 10 billion zloty. Public support could reach up to 1 billion euros, split into two phases: 200 million euros in 2029-2030 (split evenly between Poland and the European Commission) and 800 million euros after 2030, also divided equally between the two sides. The government has already adopted a resolution providing for an investment of more than 400 million zloty, earmarked among other things for purchasing computing power. Standerski also did not rule out drafting a special law (specustawa, an expedited legislative procedure Poland uses for priority infrastructure projects) to speed up the administrative procedures tied to building the facility, should the Polish project be accepted by the European Commission.

I don't rule out preparing a special law if the gigafactory project in Poland is accepted by the European Commission - Dariusz Standerski, deputy digitalization minister

Competition across Europe

Poland is not the only country in the region vying for a spot in the EU program. Finland, France, Denmark and the Czech Republic are also pursuing similar facilities, meaning the number of interested countries clearly exceeds the number of available sites. Against this backdrop, Poland and the Czech Republic have already signed a memorandum on cooperation in developing AI gigafactories under the EuroHPC program, outlining various forms of collaboration, including building infrastructure on both sides of the border.

For Polish tech companies and investors, what's at stake is not just access to EU funding, but also Poland's position as a regional computing base for artificial intelligence in Central and Eastern Europe. If one of the three forming consortia wins the domestic race and then the EU tender, Poland will gain real influence over where and under what conditions the infrastructure is built, infrastructure that domestic companies using AI models increasingly depend on.

There is little time left to settle the domestic rivalry between the three consortia. The companies must finalize their lineup and strategy before the November bid deadline, and the coming months will show whether the ministry's declared neutrality holds up once it comes time to put forward a single project to represent Poland in Brussels.