Italy MIMIT launches EU IPCEI funding for AI and chips

Italy’s decision to front-load AI and semiconductor projects into the EU’s IPCEI framework is another clear signal that Europe wants to compete not just on regulation, but on industrial capacity. By tying generous state aid to cross-border, open-source-flavoured AI and advanced chip projects, Rome is aligning itself with Brussels’ push for ‘technological sovereignty’—essentially a European answer to U.S. and Chinese hyperscaler dominance.([ilnautilus.it](https://www.ilnautilus.it/trasporti/2025-12-25/mimit-lancia-ipcei-per-intelligenza-artificiale-e-semiconduttori_179146/))

For the race to AGI, this matters less as a single breakthrough and more as a structural move. IPCEIs typically fund high-risk, long-horizon R&D and first industrial deployment, exactly the layers—compute infrastructure, specialized accelerators, and high-quality data pipelines—that high-end AI systems depend on. The AI IPCEI explicitly calls for sovereign foundation models and AI-as-a-service platforms built on European infrastructure, while the AST IPCEI targets the next wave of AI-oriented chips.([mimit.gov.it](https://www.mimit.gov.it/it/incentivi/ipcei-semiconduttori-ipcei-ast?utm_source=openai)) If even a fraction of the proposed projects succeed, European labs and companies will have deeper in-region access to both compute and models, reducing dependence on U.S. cloud providers.

Strategically, this raises the floor for European AI capability rather than immediately challenging the very top models. But over a 5–10 year horizon, a healthier domestic chip and AI stack could enable more experimentation in safety, alignment, and open research that is not bottlenecked by foreign vendors’ priorities.