Scaleway launches the AION consortium, a bold project to build Europe’s next AI Gigafactory

Scaleway – the iliad Group’s cloud services subsidiary – has launched AION, a consortium aimed at building the most advanced infrastructure and platforms to drive the European AI ecosystem. This major project is a response to the invitation issued by the European Commission and EuroHPC JU[1] for stakeholders to express their interest in contributing to the future development of AI GigaFactories in the European Union.

The AION project brings together public, private, and academic partners to support the development of sovereign, high-performance infrastructure for AI in Europe. It reflects Scaleway’s long-standing commitment to building a strong, independent, and open AI ecosystem.
Since 2023, Scaleway has operated the first private AI compute cluster in France, with nearly 5,000 GPUs made available to researchers and start-ups. Its leadership in sovereign and open AI infrastructure was recently reinforced through a partnership with Genci and the CNRS to build a public-private continuum for AI in France.

With the AION project, Scaleway is scaling up again. The project involves the deployment of several next-generation GPU clusters – equivalent to over 288,000 current-generation GPUs (NVIDIA H100), i.e., 200 MW of capacity.
AION is based on three core pillars:

Ambition: the deployment of world-class infrastructure made possible by the support of the iliad Group – which has already invested €20 billion in infrastructure across Europe over the past decade – and its investment partners.
Sovereignty: full control of the AI value chain – spanning from hardware to open software – supported by sovereign players to strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy.
Openness: strong support for open-source technologies and public-private partnerships at European level.

Scaleway’s aim is to build a broad consortium that reflects the diversity and excellence of the European ecosystem. Several key partners have already expressed their support for the initiative: VSORA, Kyutai, Sopra Steria, SiPearl, Artefact, Eviden Bull, ZML, Hugging Face and H company. AION has also received support from GENCI and Inria, co-leaders of the AI Factory France project.[2]

Thanks to the expertise of Opcore – the iliad Group's joint venture dedicated to data centers – it will be possible for the infrastructure to be hosted in France, leveraging the country’s low-carbon energy mix and the efficiency of its electricity grid.

"Europe can no longer afford to outsource the foundations of its AI future, and we welcome the initiative of the European authorities," said Damien Lucas, CEO of Scaleway. "With AION, we are offering more than just infrastructure – we want to contribute to the independence, resilience, and leadership of the European ecosystem. This is a decisive time for our continent, and we call on all AI tech leaders in France and Europe to join us on this project."

About Scaleway
Scaleway is the European leader in public cloud and a true alternative to the US hyperscalers. A subsidiary of the iliad Group, Scaleway combines decades of infrastructure expertise with the agility of a state-of-the-art tech company. With a rapidly expanding network of data centers, Scaleway offers a comprehensive portfolio of high-performance cloud services, from virtual machines to advanced data management solutions, cloud-native infrastructure and AI-optimized supercomputers. Championing open standards and operating within a fully European framework, Scaleway provides a secure and transparent cloud environment that meets the needs of organizations with the highest digital sovereignty requirements.
Website: www.scaleway.com
Press contact: presse@scaleway.com

[1] https://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/public-consultation-ai-gigafactories-2025-04-09_en
[2] The AION project is indeed a continuation of the AI Factory France initiative.

Published on 06/26/2025