Portugal joins forces with Spain to bid for AI gigafactory
The Minister of Economy believes that a joint application is an "opportunity" for Portugal to have one of the five artificial intelligence gigafactories that the European Commission will finance.
Portugal has joined Spain in bidding to build an artificial intelligence (AI) gigafactory, the Minister for the Economy and Territorial Cohesion announced on Wednesday. Manuel Castro Almeida justified this alliance by arguing that “it is not easy to have such a gigafactory in Portugal”, so a joint bid increases the country’s chances of securing one of the gigafactories that will be financed by Brussels.
“Several bids have been submitted, with several countries submitting more than one. It is not easy to have this gigafactory in Portugal”, acknowledged the minister in a speech at a conference organised by Jornal de Negócios, which is taking place this Wednesday at Culturgest.
Given this scenario, Castro Almeida revealed that the country has decided to join forces with neighbouring Spain, rather than competing alone. “We have joined forces with the Spanish and are submitting a joint application, Portugal and Spain. This is our opportunity to have one of the five gigafactories that the European Commission will finance”, he explained.
“We are hopeful that we will have a good result from this joint application”, he added.
At the end of last week, during a lunch debate with managers organised by the consulting firm EY in Lisbon, the president of Banco de Fomento, Gonçalo Regalado, said that Portugal’s bid to build an AI gigafactory in Sines would be strengthened, including in terms of the planned investment, considering that it would “give Portugal a better chance” of winning the tender promoted by the EU Executive.
