Colao: Europe Has Less Than 2 GW of AI Compute, and That Is Not Enough for the Next Wave

Europe lacks the compute infrastructure for AI, and former Vodafone chief Vittorio Colao put a concrete number on the problem: less than 2 gigawatts. He spoke at a closed press session in Turin on the last day of the Wave by Vento conference. In his words, Europe missed the big digital wave: "Okay, 20 years." But it must not miss the next one.

What we know about the statement

The source, TNW, so far quotes only an excerpt of the talk. A recap of the full version is available through the link to the original, and below we rely only on what the announcement published. Two points are stated directly: Europe has less than 2 GW of AI capacity, and that is not enough. The second point is historical: 20 years ago the continent failed to build its own global internet platforms, and Colao considers a repeat of that scenario in AI unacceptable.

Colao has experience on both sides. He ran Vodafone from 2008 to 2018, so he watched telecom infrastructure carry other companies' cloud and content services. He then joined Mario Draghi's government as Italy's Minister for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition. His assessments therefore read as those of someone who has worked with both operators and regulators.

Why two gigawatts is not much

In AI discussions, the gigawatt is the main unit of measurement: power and cooling, rather than money, now limit cluster growth faster. Individual campuses of American companies are already being designed for a capacity of one gigawatt or more. By order of magnitude, then, all of Europe's AI infrastructure is comparable to a handful of such sites.

The European Union is aware of the problem. In February 2025, the European Commission announced InvestAI, aiming to mobilize 200 billion euros and build a network of "AI gigafactories," each with roughly 100,000 advanced chips. The 2024 Draghi report on competitiveness also named compute capacity and scaling capital as weak spots for the continent. The gap between plans and capacity actually brought online is what Colao is pointing to.

The link to the TNW article mentions the "28th regime." This is what Brussels calls the idea of a single legal framework for companies that would operate on top of the 27 national systems. What exactly Colao said about it is not clear from the announcement. The connection is logical: a startup that needs hundreds of millions of euros for compute gains nothing from a market fragmented by country.

Key figures

• Europe's AI capacity: less than 2 GW.
• Duration of the missed digital wave, according to Colao: 20 years.
• Venue: a closed press session at Wave by Vento, Turin, last day of the event.
• For comparison, the InvestAI program: 200 billion euros, gigafactories of ~100,000 chips each.

What to watch next

For European companies, the takeaway is practical. Access to compute remains a bottleneck, so it is worth negotiating capacity in advance rather than counting on the spot market. Watch which sites receive AI gigafactory status and when they actually start operating. That matters more than polished declarations.

Investors and data center operators should track two indicators: megawatts connected to the grid and the timelines for power-supply permits. These will determine whether Colao's two gigawatts turn into a quickly outdated figure or a ceiling for the next few years.

Startups, for their part, should check how the proposal for a single European legal regime would affect fundraising and hiring. If the "28th regime" is adopted, it may make scaling easier. For now, it is an idea, not a rule in force.