Bulgaria will host one of six new artificial intelligence (AI) factories within the European Union, following the country’s success in securing a €90 million project in competition with some of the EU’s most developed nations. This achievement is attributed to the collaborative efforts and results of Sofia Tech Park and the Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology (INSAIT).
The European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) announced today, March 12, the list of countries selected to host the EU’s key AI infrastructure. Bulgaria will join Austria, France, Germany, Poland, and Slovenia in this significant initiative.
The factories in France and Germany are planned to work together with the first exascale supercomputers in Europe, currently being developed in these countries. Organisations in Bulgaria, Austria, Poland and Slovenia will build infrastructures with specialised systems optimised to work with artificial intelligence, further expanding Europe's high-tech infrastructure.
The Bulgarian AI factory, BRAIN++, will be located at Sofia Tech Park and is set to begin construction in 2026. It will consist of two key components working in synergy: the next-generation supercomputer Discoverer++, optimised with AI systems, and a centre that will offer services to governmental, educational, and private organisations and companies.
The INSAIT team will contribute to building generative models for earth observation, robotics, large language models, etc., which will position Bulgaria as a leader in Europe in the field of artificial intelligence.
BRAIN++ aims to build upon INSAIT’s progress and strengthen Bulgaria's position as a regional leader in AI innovation, by fostering talent development, supporting start-up SMEs and researchers, and accelerate advancements in key sectors like robotics, industry, space research, healthcare, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, disaster management, logistics, urban planning, working with Bulgarian language application models, etc.
As part of EuroHPC's network of factories, BRAIN++ will contribute to the development of a robust European innovation ecosystem for AI research, development and applications, promote ethical and responsible practices in technology deployment, foster collaboration between academia, industry and public institutions. The BRAIN++ project is part of the European Union's strategy to strengthen innovation in AI and is in line with the National Strategy for AI Development in Bulgaria and the Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation.
The Bulgarian AI centre will have a total budget of €90 million, with funds being invested in the creation of the advanced Discoverer++ supercomputer and the construction of the factory. The Bulgarian government has supported the project with a commitment to provide 50% national funding starting in 2026. The team behind Bulgaria’s existing supercomputer, Discoverer+, will contribute its expertise in managing high-performance computing systems to the new machine.
Discoverer++ will feature AI-powered generative workload systems, dedicated partitions for robotics, satellite space surveillance and fast-moving goods applications, advanced and optimized storage modules with over 7.5 PB capacity, and high-speed interconnects enabling the processing and training of huge AI models.
BRAIN++ also envisions the creation of a workspace offering cloud-based environments for SMEs, access to high-quality data sets, and organizing training programs to foster a skilled AI community in Bulgaria.
The newly approved six projects, supported by EuroHPC JU, will be part of Europe's network of AI centres, which already includes seven existing factories. Each will work to develop innovative developments in this technology area from across Europe, offering start-ups, SMEs, and researchers access to AI-optimised high-performance computing resources, services, training, technical and specialist expertise.