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Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 of 13 July 2021 on establishing the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking and repealing Regulation (EU) 2018/1488

Type Regulation

Publication 2021-07-19

Last updated 2026-01-20

State In force

Department Council of the European Union

Source EUR-Lex

articles 67

Reform history JSON API

Article 1

Establishment

For the implementation of the initiative on European High Performance Computing, a Joint Undertaking within the meaning of Article 187 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (the ‘European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking’, the ‘Joint Undertaking’) is hereby established for a period until 31 December 2033.

In order to take into account the duration of the MFF 2021-2027 and of Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme and the Connecting Europe Facility, calls for proposals and calls for tenders under this Regulation shall be launched by 31 December 2027. In duly justified cases, calls for proposals or calls for tenders may be launched by 31 December 2028.

The Joint Undertaking shall have legal personality. In each Member State, it shall enjoy the most extensive legal capacity accorded to legal persons under the laws of that Member State. It may, in particular, acquire or dispose of movable and immovable property and may be a party to legal proceedings.

The seat of the Joint Undertaking shall be located in Luxembourg.

The Statutes of the Joint Undertaking (‘the Statutes’) are set out in the Annex.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

(1) ‘acceptance test’ means a test conducted to determine if the requirements of the system specification are met by a EuroHPC supercomputer;

(2) ‘access time’ means the computing time of a supercomputer that is made available to a user or a group of users to execute their computer programmes;

(3) ‘affiliated entity’ means any legal entity as defined in Article 187(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046;

(3a) ‘AI-optimised supercomputer’ means a supercomputer that is designed primarily for training large scale, general-purpose artificial intelligence (‘AI’) models and emerging AI applications;

(3b) ‘AI factory’ means a centralised or distributed entity that provides an AI supercomputing service infrastructure which is composed of an AI-optimised supercomputer or an AI partition of a supercomputer, an associated data centre, dedicated access and AI-oriented supercomputing services, and which attracts and pools talent to provide the competences required to use the supercomputers for AI;

(3c) ‘Artificial Intelligence gigafactory’ or ‘AI gigafactory’ means a state-of-the-art large-scale facility with sufficient capacity to handle the complete lifecycle, from development to large-scale inference, of very large AI models and applications, providing a supercomputing service infrastructure which is composed of AI-optimised computing capacity, a supporting data centre infrastructure including high-capacity storage and networking, dedicated secure cloud user access environments, and specialised secure AI-oriented support services for its advanced operations, all of which are supported by an environmentally sustainable infrastructure, in particular for energy and water supply systems;

(3d) ‘Artificial Intelligence gigafactory Consortium’ or ‘AI gigafactory Consortium’ means an association of eligible legal entities forming a consortium and bound by a consortium agreement with the purpose of establishing and operating an AI gigafactory and specifying the respective roles and responsibilities of those entities for the lifetime of the AI gigafactory, or a new legal entity established for the purpose of establishing and operating an AI gigafactory, and such consortium is duly established in the Union for a minimum duration of five years and of which one or more of the private partners may be participating in the Private Members of the Joint Undertaking;

(3e) ‘AI gigafactory Coordinator’ means a legal entity, duly incorporated in the Union and validly existing under the laws of the Member State in which it is established, which: is legally authorised to represent an AI gigafactory Consortium and has the legal capacity and authority to enter into, execute and perform the AI gigafactory Hosting Agreement; is headquartered in the Union; is under the control, directly or indirectly, through ownership interest or via other means, as defined in Chapter IV of Regulation (EU) No 2024/1624 of the European Parliament and of the Council ([^E0001]) and relevant Union competition law principles, of legal entities or natural persons established within the Union; and may also be an existing hosting entity representing a Participating State that is a Member State or a hosting consortium of Participating States;

(3f) ‘AI gigafactory Hosting Agreement’ means an agreement between the Joint Undertaking and the AI gigafactory Coordinator to host and operate an AI gigafactory;

(3g) ‘AI gigafactory hosting entity’ means a legal entity which has been designated by an AI gigafactory Consortium to host and operate an AI gigafactory and its services, and which is established in a Participating State that is a Member State;

(3h) ‘Artificial Intelligence gigafactory Cooperation Agreement’ is an agreement between the Joint Undertaking and a third country specifying eligibility of participation in an AI gigafactory Consortium and user access to AI gigafactories for the legal entities under the control, directly or indirectly, through ownership interest or via other means, of legal entities or natural persons established in that third country;

(3i) ‘a multi-site single-country AI gigafactory’ is an AI gigafactory deployed in more than one physical location within the territory of one Member State;

(3j) ‘a multi-site multi-country AI gigafactory’ is an AI gigafactory deployed in more than one physical location and in the territories of more than one Member State;

(4) ‘Centre of Excellence in High Performance Computing’ means a collaborative project selected in an open and competitive call for proposals to promote the use of upcoming extreme performance computing capabilities enabling user communities in collaboration with other High Performance Computing stakeholders to scale up existing parallel codes towards exascale and extreme scaling performance;

(5) ‘co-design’ means a collective approach between technology suppliers and users engaged in a collaborative and iterative design process for developing new technologies, applications and systems;

(6) ‘conflict of interest’ means a situation involving a financial actor or other person as referred to in Article 61 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046;

(7) ‘constituent entity’ means an entity that constitutes a Private Member of the Joint Undertaking, pursuant to the statutes of each Private Member;

(8) ‘consortium of private partners’ means an association of Union legal entities coming together for the purpose of acquiring jointly with the Joint Undertaking an industrial-grade supercomputer; one or more of these private partners may be participating in the Private Members of the Joint Undertaking;

(9) ‘EuroHPC supercomputer’ means any computing system which is fully owned by the Joint Undertaking or co-owned with other Participating States or a consortium of private partners and which is a classical supercomputer (high-end supercomputer, industrial-grade supercomputer, AI-optimised supercomputer or mid-range supercomputer), a hybrid classical-quantum computer, a quantum computer or a quantum simulator;

(10) ‘exascale’ means a performance level capable of executing ten to the power of eighteen operations per second (or 1 Exaflop);

(11) ‘high-end supercomputer’ means a world-class computing system developed with the most advanced technology available at a given point in time and achieving at least exascale levels of performance or beyond (i.e. post-exascale) for applications addressing problems of greater complexity;

(12) ‘hosting consortium’ means a group of Participating States or a consortium of private partners that have agreed to contribute to the acquisition and operation of a EuroHPC supercomputer, including any organisations representing these Participating States;

(13) ‘hosting entity’ means a legal entity which includes facilities to host and operate a EuroHPC supercomputer and which is established in a Participating State that is a Member State;

(14) ‘hyper-connected’ means a communication capability of transferring data at 10 to the power of twelve bits per second (1 Terabit per second) or beyond;

(15) ‘industrial-grade supercomputer’ means at least a mid-range supercomputer specifically designed with security, confidentiality and data integrity requirements for industrial users that are more demanding than for a scientific use;

(16) ‘in-kind contributions to indirect actions’ funded from Horizon Europe means contributions by the Participating State or the Private Members of the Joint Undertaking or their constituent entities or their affiliated entities, consisting of the eligible costs incurred by them in implementing indirect actions less the contribution of that Joint Undertaking, of the Participating States of that Joint Undertaking and of any other Union contribution to those costs;

(17) ‘in-kind contributions to actions’ funded from the Digital Europe Programme or the Connecting Europe Facility means contributions by the Participating State or the Private Members of the Joint Undertaking or their constituent entities or their affiliated entities, consisting of the eligible costs incurred by them in implementing part of the activities of the Joint Undertaking less the contribution of that Joint Undertaking, of the Participating States of that Joint Undertaking and of any other Union contribution to those costs;

(18) ‘mid-range supercomputer’ means a world-class supercomputer with at most one order of magnitude lower performance level than a high-end supercomputer;

(19) ‘national High Performance Computing Competence Centre’ means a legal entity, or a consortium of legal entities, established in a Participating State, associated with a national supercomputing centre of that Participating State, providing users from industry, including SMEs, academia, and public administrations with access on demand to the supercomputers and to the latest High Performance Computing technologies, tools, applications and services, and offering expertise, skills, training, networking and outreach;

(19a) ‘National Quantum Competence Centre’ means a legal entity, or a consortium of legal entities, established in a Participating State, providing users from industry, including SMEs, academia and research-performing organisations, and public administrations with access on demand to quantum technologies, tools, applications and services, as well as to national or European quantum infrastructures, and offering expertise, skills, training, networking and outreach;

(20) ‘observer State’ means a country eligible to participate in the actions of the Joint Undertaking funded by Horizon Europe or the Digital Europe Programme that is not a Participating State;

(21) ‘Participating State’ means a country that is a member of the Joint Undertaking;

(22) ‘performance level’ means the number of floating point operations per second (flops) that a supercomputer can execute;

(23) ‘Private Member’ means any member of the Joint Undertaking other than the Union or Participating States;

(24) ‘quantum computer’ means a computing device that harnesses the laws of quantum mechanics to solve certain particular tasks using therefore fewer computational resources than classical computers;

(25) ‘quantum simulator’ means a highly controllable quantum device that allows to obtain insights into properties of complex quantum systems or to solve specific computational problems inaccessible to classical computers;

(26) ‘security of the supply chain’ of a EuroHPC supercomputer means the measures to include in the selection of any supplier of this supercomputer to ensure the availability of components, technologies, systems and knowhow required in the acquisition and operation of this supercomputer; this includes measures for mitigating the risks related to eventual disruptions in the supply of such components, technologies, and systems, including price changes or lower performance or alternative sources of supply; it covers the whole lifetime of the EuroHPC supercomputer;

(27) ‘Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda’ means the document covering the duration of Horizon Europe that identifies the key priorities and the essential technologies and innovations required to achieve the objectives of the Joint Undertaking;

(28) ‘multiannual strategic programme’ means a document laying out a strategy for all the activities of the Joint Undertaking;

(29) ‘supercomputing’ means computing at performance levels requiring the massive integration of individual computing elements, including quantum components, for solving problems which cannot be handled by standard computing systems;

(30) ‘total cost of ownership’ of a EuroHPC supercomputer means the acquisition costs plus the operating costs, including maintenance, until the ownership of the supercomputer is transferred to the hosting entity or is sold, or until the supercomputer is decommissioned without transfer of ownership;

(31) ‘work programme’ means the document referred to in Article 2, point (25), of Regulation (EU) 2021/695 or, where relevant, the document which also functions as the work programme referred to in Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2021/694, or Article 19 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1153.

Article 3

Mission and objectives

The mission of the Joint Undertaking shall be to develop, deploy, extend and maintain in the Union a world-leading federated, secure, interoperable and hyper-connected supercomputing, quantum computing, service and data infrastructure ecosystem. It shall support the development and uptake of demand-oriented and user-driven innovative and competitive supercomputing systems and quantum technologies and systems and the development of a wide range of applications optimised for those systems. This shall be based as far as possible on a European supply chain in order to limit the risk of disruptions and dependencies and to reinforce the strategic autonomy and technological sovereignty of the Union, whilst ensuring use of the best components, technologies and knowledge. It shall, furthermore, widen the use of that infrastructure ecosystem to a large number of public and private users and support the twin transition and the development of key skills for the European workforce in science and industry.

The Joint Undertaking shall have the following overall objectives:

(a) to contribute to the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2021/695 and in particular Article 3 thereof, to deliver scientific, economic, environmental, technological and societal impact from the Union’s investments in research and innovation, so as to strengthen the scientific and technological bases of the Union, deliver on the Union strategic priorities and contribute to the realisation of Union objectives and policies, and to contribute to tackling global challenges, including the Sustainable Development Goals by following the principles of the United Nations Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement adopted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ([^E0002]);

(b) to develop close cooperation and ensure coordination with other European Partnerships, including through joint calls, as well as to seek synergies with relevant activities and programmes at Union, national, and regional level, in particular with those supporting the deployment of innovative solutions, education and regional development, where relevant;

(c) to develop, deploy, extend and maintain in the Union an integrated, demand-oriented and user-driven hyper-connected world-class supercomputing and data infrastructure;

(d) to federate the hyper-connected supercomputing and data infrastructure and interconnect it with the European data spaces and cloud ecosystem for providing computing and data services to a wide range of public and private users in Europe;

(e) to promote scientific excellence and support the uptake and systematic use of research and innovation results generated in the Union;

(f) to further develop and support a highly competitive and innovative supercomputing and data ecosystem broadly distributed in Europe contributing to the scientific and digital leadership of the Union, capable of autonomously producing computing technologies and architectures and their integration on leading computing systems, and advanced applications optimised for these systems;

(fa) to support state-of-the-art fundamental and applied research and innovation in quantum technologies, their transition from the ‘lab-to-the-fab’ and their deployment, uptake and integration in world-class quantum infrastructures, for building a dynamic, innovative, sustainable and resilient quantum ecosystem across the Union, and for ensuring scientific and industrial leadership, competitiveness, strategic autonomy and technological sovereignty of the Union in quantum computing, communication and sensing;

(g) to widen the use of supercomputing services and the development of key skills that European science and industry need;

(h) to develop and operate the AI factories, and to support the establishment of, and access to, AI gigafactories and their services, with a view to building a dynamic, innovative, sustainable and resilient AI ecosystem across the Union and ensuring scientific and industrial leadership.

The Joint Undertaking shall contribute to safeguarding the interests of the Union when procuring supercomputers and supporting the development and uptake of High Performance Computing (HPC), AI and quantum technologies, systems and applications. It shall enable a co-design approach for the acquisition of world-class supercomputers, while safeguarding the security of the supply chain of procured technologies and systems. It shall contribute to the Union’s strategic autonomy, while preserving an open economy in the Union, support the development of technologies and applications reinforcing European HPC, AI and quantum technologies supply chains and promote their integration in systems that address a large number of scientific, societal, environmental, industrial and security-use needs.

Article 4

Pillars of activity

The Joint Undertaking shall implement the mission referred to in Article 3 according to the following pillars of activities:

(a) administration pillar, covering the general activities for the operation and management of the Joint Undertaking;

(b) infrastructure pillar, encompassing the activities for the acquisition, deployment, upgrading and operation of the secure, hyper-connected world-class supercomputing, quantum computing and data infrastructure, including the promotion of the uptake and systematic use of research and innovation results generated in the Union;

(c) federation of supercomputing services pillar, covering all activities for providing Union-wide access to federated, secure supercomputing and data resources and services throughout Europe for the research and scientific community, industry, including SMEs, and the public sector, in particular in cooperation with PRACE and GÉANT; those activities shall include:
(i) support to the interconnection of the High Performance Computing, quantum computing and data resources owned fully or partially by the Joint Undertaking or made available on a voluntary basis by the Participating States;
(ii) support to the interconnection of the supercomputing, and quantum computing data infrastructures with the Union’s common European data spaces and federated, secure cloud and data infrastructures;
(iii) support to the development, acquisition and operation of a platform for the seamless federation and secure service provisioning of supercomputing and quantum computing service and data infrastructure, establishing a one-stop shop access point for any supercomputing or data service managed by the Joint Undertaking, providing any user with a single point of entry;

(d) technology pillar, addressing ambitious research and innovation activities for developing a world-class, competitive and innovative supercomputing ecosystem across Europe addressing hardware and software technologies, and their integration into computing systems, covering the whole scientific and industrial value chain, for contributing to the Union’s strategic autonomy; it shall also focus on energy-efficient High Performance Computing technologies, contributing to environmental sustainability; those activities shall address inter alia:
(i) low-power micro-processing components, interconnection components, system architecture and related technologies such as novel algorithms, software codes, tools, and environments;
(ii) emerging computing paradigms and their integration into leading supercomputing systems through a co-design approach; these technologies shall be linked with the development, acquisition and deployment of high-end supercomputers, including quantum computers, and infrastructures;
(iii) technologies and systems for the interconnection and operation of classical supercomputing systems with other, often complementary computing technologies, such as quantum computing or other emerging computing technologies and ensure their effective operation;
(iv) new algorithms and software technologies that offer substantial performance increases;

(e) application pillar, addressing activities for achieving and maintaining European excellence in key computing and data applications and codes for science, industry, including SMEs, and the public sector; those activities shall address inter alia:
(i) applications, including new algorithms and software developments, for public and private users that benefit from the exploitation of the resources and capabilities of high-end supercomputers and their convergence with advanced digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, high performance data analytics, cloud technologies, etc. through the co-design, development and optimisation of High Performance Computing-enabled large-scale and emerging lead-market codes and applications;
(ii) support, among others, to Centres of Excellence in High Performance Computing in applications and large-scale High Performance Computing-enabled pilot demonstrators and test-beds for big data applications and advanced digital services in a wide range of scientific, public and industrial sectors;

(f) widening usage and skills pillar, aiming at developing capabilities and skills that foster excellence in supercomputing, quantum computing, and data use, taking into account synergies with other programmes and instruments, in particular Digital Europe Programme, widening the scientific and industrial use of supercomputing resources and data applications and fostering the industrial access and use of supercomputing and data infrastructures for innovation adapted to industrial needs, as well as providing Europe with a knowledgeable leading scientific community and a skilled workforce for scientific leadership and digital transformation of industry and public administration, including the support and networking of national High Performance Computing Competence Centres and Centres of Excellence in High Performance Computing;

(g) international cooperation pillar, in line with the external policy objectives and international commitments of the Union, defining, implementing and participating in activities relevant to the promotion of international collaboration in supercomputing to solve global scientific and societal challenges, while promoting competitiveness of the European High Performance Computing supply and user ecosystem;

(h) AI factory pillar for trustworthy and ethical AI, covering activities for the provision of an AI-oriented supercomputing service infrastructure that aims to further develop the research and innovation capabilities, competences and skills of the AI ecosystem; it shall include the following activities:
(i) the acquisition and operation of AI-optimised supercomputers co-located with data centres or connected to data centres via very high speed networks;
(ii) the upgrading of existing EuroHPC supercomputers with AI capabilities;
(iii) providing access and fair access opportunities to the AI-optimised supercomputers or EuroHPC supercomputers that have been upgraded with AI capabilities, including widening their use to a large number of public and private users, including startups and small and medium-sized enterprises;
(iv) the operation of centralised or distributed AI-oriented supercomputing service centres in support of the AI startup ecosystem and the research and innovation ecosystem providing algorithmic support, support for the further development, training, testing, evaluation and validation of AI training models and systems, and support for the development of emerging large-scale AI applications in strategic areas such as health and care, climate change, robotics, or connected and automated driving;
(v) the operation of supercomputer-friendly programming facilities, including for the parallelisation of AI applications for optimising the use of supercomputing capabilities;
(vi) the operation of other AI-enabling supercomputing services;
(vii) attracting, pooling and training talent to develop their competences and skills in using the EuroHPC supercomputers for AI;
(viii) interacting with the other AI factories, making their services accessible across Europe and cooperating with the EuroHPC Competence Centres and EuroHPC Centres of Excellence, and with relevant AI initiatives of the Union, such as the hubs of Artificial Intelligence startups, the Artificial Intelligence and data ecosystems, the Artificial Intelligence Testing and Experimentation Facilities, the European central Artificial Intelligence platform, the Artificial Intelligence-oriented Digital Innovation Hubs, the Artificial Intelligence related European Institute of Innovation and Technology Knowledge and Innovation Communities, relevant European research infrastructures and other related initiatives;

(i) AI gigafactory pillar, covering activities of AI gigafactories which in their operation could be connected with the EuroHPC network of AI factories for ensuring seamless integration, user support and knowledge sharing across the European AI ecosystem; this pillar shall include the following activities:
(i) providing a world-class AI computing infrastructure for European researchers, entrepreneurs and industries, including SMEs, start-ups, scale-ups and the public sector;
(ii) enabling the development of new AI solutions across all public and private sectors, including the development of foundation models; and
(iii) ensuring the Union’s competitiveness and sovereignty as an AI continent;

(j) quantum technologies pillar, addressing the full quantum ecosystem and the application domains of quantum computing and simulation, quantum communication, and quantum sensing and metrology, ensuring the security and resilience of the quantum supply chain and its enabling technologies; those activities shall address inter alia:
(i) scientific and technological research and innovation: advancing research excellence in quantum science and technology domains;
(ii) transition from the ‘lab-to-the-fab’ and ecosystem development: supporting the development and deployment of state-of-the-art quantum infrastructures; fostering the industrialisation of quantum technologies by supporting the uptake of quantum applications in key public and industrial sectors; ensuring the translation of advances across all quantum domains into real-world applications, including the development of lead markets; promoting European and international standards; and supporting the development and networking of national quantum competence centres across Europe;
(iii) the acceleration of the development and operationalisation of fault-tolerant quantum computing systems relying on public measures to support a competitive European quantum ecosystem and supply chain based on technologies made and designed in Europe;
(iv) skills and talent: developing a competitive and inclusive quantum research and engineering workforce through coordinated education, training and mobility initiatives, across key quantum-related disciplines and technical fields;
(v) international cooperation: developing international collaboration in quantum technologies to solve global scientific and societal challenges, in line with the external policy objectives and international commitments of the Union.

In addition to the activities referred to in paragraph 1, the Joint Undertaking may be entrusted with the implementation of additional tasks in the event of cumulative, complementary or combined funding between Union programmes in accordance with the relevant Commission work programme.

Article 5

Union’s financial contribution

The Union’s financial contribution to the Joint Undertaking, including EEA appropriations, shall be up to EUR 4 122 300 000 , including EUR 92 000 000 for administrative costs, provided that that amount is at least matched by the contribution of Participating States, distributed indicatively as follows:

(a) up to EUR 1 660 000 000 from Horizon Europe, including EUR 160 000 000 for the implementation of quantum research and innovation activities as referred to in Article 4(1), point j, and in accordance with Article 34(1) and (2);

(b) up to EUR 2 142 300 000 from the Digital Europe Programme; and

Additional funds from Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme and the Connecting Europe Facility may complement the Union contribution referred to in the first subparagraph, provided that the additional amounts are at least matched by the contribution of one or more members of the Joint Undertaking other than the Union. Such additional funds shall not be accounted for in the calculation of the Union maximum financial contribution.

The Union financial contribution referred to in paragraph 1 shall be paid from the appropriations in the general budget of the Union allocated to each relevant programme.

Additional funds from any Union programme other than Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme and the Connecting Europe Facility, and which complement the contributions referred to in paragraph 1, first subparagraph, of this Article may be allocated to the Joint Undertaking to support its pillars of activities referred to in Article 4, except those referred to in Article 4(1), point (a). Such additional funds shall not be accounted for in the calculation of the Union maximum financial contribution.

Contributions from Union programmes corresponding to additional activities entrusted to the Joint Undertaking in accordance with paragraph 3 shall not be accounted for in the calculation of the Union maximum financial contribution.

4a. For contributions allocated to the Joint Undertaking in accordance with paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article, Article 158 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council ([^E0003]) is applicable. Where such additional Union contributions relate to the pillar referred to in Article 4(1), point (i), one or more of the members other than the Union shall make additional contributions commensurate to the amount of the Union contributions.

Additional Union funds complementing the contribution referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article may be allocated to the Joint Undertaking from third countries associated to Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme or the Connecting Europe Facility in accordance with their respective association agreements. Those additional Union funds shall not affect the Participating States’ contribution referred to in Article 7(1), unless the Participating States agree otherwise.

Article 6

Other Union contributions

Contributions from Union programmes other than those referred to in Article 5(1) that are part of a Union co-financing to a programme implemented by one of the Participating States that is a Member State shall not be accounted for in the calculation of the Union maximum financial contribution referred to in Article 5.

Article 7

Contributions of members other than the Union

The Participating States shall make a total contribution that is commensurate to the Union’s contribution referred to in Article 5(1). The Participating States shall arrange among them their collective contributions and how they will deliver them. This shall not affect the ability of each Participating State to define its national financial contribution in accordance with Article 8.

The Private Members of the Joint Undertaking shall make or arrange for their constituent entities and affiliated entities to make contributions for at least EUR 900 000 000 to the Joint Undertaking.

The contributions referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article shall consist of contributions as set out in Article 15 of the Statutes.

The contributions referred to in Article 15(3)(f) of the Statutes may be provided by each Participating State to beneficiaries established in that Participating State. Participating States may complement the Joint Undertaking’s contribution, within the applicable maximum reimbursement rate set out in Article 34 of Regulation (EU) 2021/695, Article 14 of Regulation (EU) 2021/694 and in Article 14 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1153. Such contributions shall be without prejudice to State aid rules.

The members of the Joint Undertaking other than the Union shall report by 31 January of each year to the Governing Board as defined in Article 15 of the Statutes, on the value of the contributions referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article made in the previous financial year.

For the purpose of valuing the contributions referred to in points Article 15(3)(b) to (g) of the Statutes, the costs shall be determined in accordance with the usual cost accounting practices of the entities concerned, with the applicable accounting standards of the country where the entity is established and with the applicable International Accounting Standards and International Financial Reporting Standards. The costs shall be certified by an independent external auditor appointed by the entity concerned or by the audit authorities of the Participating States. The valuation method may be verified by the Joint Undertaking, should there be any uncertainty arising from the certification. If there are remaining uncertainties, the valuation method may be audited by the Joint Undertaking.

The Commission may terminate, proportionally reduce or suspend the Union financial contribution to the Joint Undertaking or trigger the winding up procedure referred to in Article 23 of the Statutes in the following cases:

(a) if the Joint Undertaking fails to meet the conditions for the Union contribution; or

(b) if the members other than the Union or their constituent entities or their affiliated entities fail to contribute, contribute only partially or do not respect the time frames with regard to the contribution referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article; or

The Commission’s decision to terminate, proportionally reduce or suspend the Union financial contribution shall not hinder the reimbursement of eligible costs incurred by the members other than the Union before the decision is notified to the Joint Undertaking.

Article 8

Management of contributions from the Participating States

Each Participating State shall make an indicative commitment of the amount of their national financial contributions in indirect actions to the Joint Undertaking. Such a commitment shall be made annually to the Joint Undertaking prior to the adoption of the work programme.

In addition to the criteria set out in Article 22 of Regulation (EU) 2021/695, in Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2021/694 or in Article 11 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1153, the work programme may include, as an annex, eligibility criteria regarding the participation of national legal entities.

Each Participating State shall entrust the Joint Undertaking with the evaluation of the proposals in accordance with Horizon Europe rules.

The selection of proposals shall be based on the ranking list provided by the evaluation committee. The Governing Board may deviate from that list in duly justified cases as set out in the work programme to ensure the overall consistency of the portfolio approach.

Each Participating State shall have a right of veto on all issues concerning the use of its own national financial contributions to the Joint Undertaking for applicants established in those Participating States, on the basis of national strategic priorities.

Each Participating State shall conclude one or more administrative agreements with the Joint Undertaking laying down the coordination mechanism for the payment of and reporting on contributions to applicants established in that Participating State. Such an agreement shall include the schedule, conditions of payment, reporting and audit requirements.

Each Participating State shall strive to synchronise its payment schedule, reporting and audits, with those of the Joint Undertaking and to converge its cost eligibility rules with Horizon Europe’s rules.

In the agreement referred to in paragraph 2, each Participating State may entrust the Joint Undertaking with the payment of its contribution to its beneficiaries. After the selection of proposals, the Participating State shall commit the amount necessary for payments. The audit authorities of the Participating State may audit their respective national contributions.

Article 9

Hosting entity

EuroHPC supercomputers shall be located in a Participating State that is a Member State. In case a Participating State is already hosting a EuroHPC supercomputer which is a high-end or a mid-range supercomputer, it shall not be eligible to participate in a new call for expression of interest for the incremental generation of such supercomputers before at least five years from the selection date following a previous call for expression of interest. In the case of the acquisition of quantum computers and quantum simulators, or the upgrade of a EuroHPC supercomputer with quantum accelerators, that period is reduced to two years.

For the EuroHPC supercomputers referred to in Articles 11, 12 and 14, the hosting entity may represent a Participating State that is a Member State or a hosting consortium. The hosting entity and the competent authorities of the Participating State or Participating States in a hosting consortium shall enter into an agreement to that effect.

The Joint Undertaking shall entrust to a hosting entity the operation of each individual EuroHPC supercomputer fully owned by the Joint Undertaking, or jointly owned in accordance with Articles 11, 12 and 14.

Hosting entities referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article shall be selected in accordance with paragraph 5 of this Article and the Joint Undertaking’s financial rules referred to in Article 19.

Following a call for expression of interest, the hosting entity referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article and the corresponding Participating State where the hosting entity is established or the corresponding hosting consortium shall be selected by the Governing Board through a fair and transparent process based, inter alia, on the following criteria:

(a) compliance with the general system specifications defined in the call for expression of interest;

(b) total cost of ownership of the EuroHPC supercomputer, including an accurate estimate and a verification method of the operating costs of this supercomputer during its lifetime;

(d) quality of the hosting facility’s physical and IT infrastructure, its security and its connectivity with the rest of the Union;

(e) quality of service to the users, namely capability to comply with the service level agreement provided among the documents accompanying the selection procedure;

(f) provision of an appropriate supporting document proving the commitment of the Member State where the hosting entity is established or of the competent authorities of the Participating States of the hosting consortium to cover the share of the total cost of ownership of the EuroHPC supercomputer that is not covered by the Union contribution as set out in Article 5 or any other Union contribution as set out in Article 6, either until its ownership is transferred by the Joint Undertaking to that hosting entity or until the supercomputer is sold or decommissioned if there is no transfer of ownership.

For the AI-optimised supercomputers the following additional selection criteria shall apply for the hosting entities:

(a) proximity with an established datacentre or connection to an established datacentre via very high speed networks;

(b) vision, plans and capability of the hosting entity to address the challenges of the AI startup ecosystem, the research and innovation ecosystem and the AI user community, and providing a supportive centralised or distributed AI-oriented supercomputing service;

(c) quality and pertinence of experience and know-how available amongst the team that is expected to be in charge for the supportive AI-oriented supercomputing service environment;

(d) plans for interaction and cooperation with other AI factories, with EuroHPC Competence Centres and EuroHPC Centres of Excellence and with relevant AI initiatives such as the hubs of Artificial Intelligence startups, the Artificial Intelligence and data ecosystems, the Artificial Intelligence Testing and Experimentation Facilities, the European central Artificial Intelligence platform, the Artificial Intelligence-oriented Digital Innovation Hubs and other related initiatives;

(e) existing capabilities and future plans of the hosting entity to contribute to the development of the talent pool.

5a. An existing hosting entity may apply to become an AI factory. Following a call for expression of interest, an existing hosting entity shall be selected by the Governing Board through a fair and transparent process based, inter alia, on the selection criteria described in Article 9(5), second subparagraph, and provided that the hosting entity can demonstrate that its EuroHPC supercomputer has enough computing resources for training large scale, general-purpose AI models and emerging AI applications.

For the industrial-grade EuroHPC supercomputers referred to in Article 13, the hosting entity shall enter into an agreement with a consortium of private partners for preparing the acquisition and for operating such supercomputers or partitions of EuroHPC supercomputers.

Hosting an industrial-grade supercomputer shall respect the following conditions:

(a) the Joint Undertaking shall entrust to the hosting entity the operation of each individual industrial-grade EuroHPC supercomputer jointly owned in accordance with Article 13;

(b) hosting entities shall be selected in accordance with paragraph 5 of this Article and the Joint Undertaking’s financial rules referred to in Article 19;

(c) following a call for expression of interest, the hosting entity and its associated consortium of private partners shall be selected by the Governing Board through a fair and transparent process based, inter alia, on the following:
(i) the criteria set out in paragraphs 5(a) to 5(e) of this Article; and
(ii) the provision of an appropriate supporting document proving the commitment of the consortium of private partners to cover the share of the total cost of ownership of the EuroHPC supercomputer that is not covered by the Union contribution as set out in Article 5 or any other Union contribution as set out in Article 6.

6a. For the AI-optimised supercomputers referred to in Article 12a, the hosting entity shall create a one-stop shop for users, including startups, small and medium-sized enterprises and scientific users, to facilitate access to its support services.

The selected hosting entity may decide to invite, subject to the prior agreement of the Commission, additional Participating States, or a consortium of private partners, to join the hosting consortium. The financial or in-kind contribution or any other commitment of the joining Participating States, or Private Members, shall not affect the Union financial contribution and the corresponding ownership rights and percentage of access time allocated to the Union with regard to that EuroHPC supercomputer as defined in Articles 11, 12, 13, and 14.

Article 10

Hosting agreement

The Joint Undertaking shall conclude a hosting agreement with each selected hosting entity prior to launching the procedure for the acquisition of a EuroHPC supercomputer.

The hosting agreement shall address in particular the following elements regarding the EuroHPC supercomputers:

(a) the rights and obligations during the procedure for acquisition of the supercomputer, including the acceptance tests of the supercomputer;

(b) the liability conditions for operating the supercomputer;

(c) the quality of service offered to the users when operating the supercomputer, as set out in the service level agreement;

(d) the plans regarding the supercomputer’s energy efficiency and environmental sustainability;

(e) the access conditions of the Union’s share of access time to the supercomputer, as decided by the Governing Board in accordance with Article 17;

(f) the accounting modalities of the access times;

(g) the share of the total cost of ownership that the hosting entity shall arrange to be covered by the Participating State where the hosting entity is established or by the Participating States in the hosting consortium;

(h) the conditions for the transfer of ownership referred to in Articles 11(5), 12(7), 13(6) and 14(6), including, in the case of EuroHPC supercomputers, provisions for the calculation of their residual value and for their decommissioning;

(i) the obligation of the hosting entity to provide access to the EuroHPC supercomputers, while ensuring the security of the supercomputers, the protection of personal data in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the protection of privacy of electronic communications in accordance with Directive 2002/58/EC, the protection of trade secrets in accordance with Directive (EU) 2016/943 and the protection of confidentiality of other data covered by the obligation of professional secrecy;

(j) the obligation of the hosting entity to put in place a certified audit procedure covering the costs of operation of the EuroHPC supercomputer and the access times of the users;

(k) the obligation of the hosting entity to submit by 31 January of each year to the Governing Board an audit report and data on the use of access time in the previous financial year;

(l) the specific conditions applicable when the hosting entity operates a EuroHPC supercomputer for industrial usage or an AI-optimised supercomputer.

The hosting agreement shall be governed by Union law, supplemented, for any matter not covered by this Regulation or by other Union legal acts, by the law of the Member State where the hosting entity is established.

The hosting agreement shall contain an arbitration clause, within the meaning of Article 272 TFEU, granting jurisdiction over all matters covered by the hosting agreement to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

After the hosting agreement is concluded, and without prejudice to paragraph 2 of this Article, the Joint Undertaking, supported by the selected hosting entity, shall launch the procedures for the acquisition of the EuroHPC supercomputer in accordance with the financial rules of the Joint Undertaking referred to in Article 19.

For mid-range supercomputers, after the hosting agreement is concluded, the Joint Undertaking, or the hosting entity shall launch on behalf of both contracting parties the procedures for the acquisition of the EuroHPC supercomputer in accordance with the financial rules of the Joint Undertaking referred to in Article 19.

Article 11

Acquisition and ownership of high-end supercomputers

The Joint Undertaking shall acquire the high-end supercomputers and shall own them.

The Union financial contribution referred to in Article 5(1) shall cover up to 50 % of the acquisition costs plus up to 50 % of the operating costs of the high-end supercomputers.

The remaining total cost of ownership of the high-end supercomputers shall be covered by the Participating State where the hosting entity is established or by the Participating States in the hosting consortium, possibly supplemented by the contributions referred to in Article 6.

The selection of the supplier of the high-end supercomputer shall be based on tender specifications that shall take into account the user requirements and the general system specifications provided by the selected hosting entity in its application for the call for expression of interest. The selection shall also address the security of the supply chain.

The Joint Undertaking may act as first user and acquire high-end supercomputers that integrate demand-oriented, user driven and competitive technologies primarily developed in the Union.

The Governing Board may decide in the work programme, if duly justified for security reasons, to condition the participation of suppliers in the acquisition of the high-end supercomputers in accordance with Article 12(6) of Regulation (EU) 2021/694 or to limit the participation of suppliers for security reasons or actions directly related to the Union’s strategic autonomy, in accordance with Article 18(4) of that Regulation.

Without prejudice to the winding up of the Joint Undertaking, as referred to in Article 23(4) of the Statutes, at the earliest five years after the successful acceptance test by the Joint Undertaking of the high-end supercomputers installed in a hosting entity, the ownership of the high-end supercomputer may be transferred to the respective hosting entity, sold to another entity or decommissioned upon decision of the Governing Board and in accordance with the hosting agreement. In the case of transfer of ownership of a high-end supercomputer, the hosting entity shall reimburse the Joint Undertaking the residual value of the supercomputer that is transferred. If there is no transfer of ownership to the hosting entity but a decision for decommissioning, the relevant costs shall be shared equally by the Joint Undertaking and the hosting entity. The Joint Undertaking shall not be liable for any costs incurred after the transfer of ownership of the high-end supercomputer or after its sale or decommissioning.

Article 12

Acquisition and ownership of quantum computers and quantum simulators

The Joint Undertaking shall acquire quantum computers and quantum simulators, that could range from pilots and experimental systems to prototypes and operational systems as stand-alone machines or hybridised with high-end or mid-range High Performance Computing machines and accessible via the cloud, and shall own them.

The Union financial contribution referred to in Article 5(1) shall cover up to 50 % of the acquisition costs plus up to 50 % of the operating costs of the quantum computers and quantum simulators.

The remaining total cost of ownership of the quantum computers and quantum simulators shall be covered by the Participating State where the hosting entity is established or by the Participating States in the hosting consortium, possibly supplemented by the contributions referred to in Article 6.

The selection of the supplier of the quantum computers and quantum simulators shall be based on tender specifications that shall take into account the user requirements and the general system specifications provided by the selected hosting entity in its application for the call for expression of interest. The selection shall also address the security of the supply chain.

The Joint Undertaking may act as first user and acquire quantum computers and quantum simulators that integrate technologies primarily developed in the Union.

The Governing Board may decide in the work programme, if duly justified for security reasons, to condition the participation of suppliers in the acquisition of the quantum computers and quantum simulators in accordance with Article 12(6) of Regulation (EU) 2021/694 or to limit the participation of suppliers for security reasons or actions directly related to the Union’s strategic autonomy, in accordance with Article 18(4) of that Regulation.

The quantum computers and quantum simulators shall be located in a hosting entity of a EuroHPC supercomputer or a supercomputing centre located in the Union.

Without prejudice to the winding up of the Joint Undertaking, as referred to in Article 23(4) of the Statutes, at the earliest four years after the successful acceptance test by the quantum computer or quantum simulator installed in a hosting entity, the ownership of the quantum computer or quantum simulator may be transferred to that hosting entity, sold to another entity or decommissioned upon decision of the Governing Board and in accordance with the hosting agreement. In the case of transfer of ownership of a quantum computer or quantum simulator, the hosting entity shall reimburse the Joint Undertaking the residual value of the supercomputer that is transferred. If there is no transfer of ownership to the hosting entity but a decision for decommissioning, the relevant costs shall be shared equally by the Joint Undertaking and the hosting entity. The Joint Undertaking shall not be liable for any costs incurred after the transfer of ownership of the quantum computer or quantum simulator or after its sale or decommissioning.

Article 12a

Acquisition and ownership of AI-optimised supercomputers

The Joint Undertaking shall acquire AI-optimised supercomputers and shall own them.

The Union financial contribution referred to in Article 5(1) shall cover up to 50 % of the acquisition costs plus up to 50 % of the operating costs of the AI-optimised supercomputers. The operating costs include the costs for AI-oriented supercomputing services.

The remaining total cost of ownership of the AI-optimised supercomputers shall be covered by the Participating State where the hosting entity is established or by the Participating States in the hosting consortium, possibly supplemented by the contributions referred to in Article 6.

The selection of the supplier of the AI-optimised supercomputers shall address the security of the supply chain. It shall be based on tender specifications that are demand-driven and that take into account the user requirements and the general system specifications provided by the selected hosting entity in its application for the call for expression of interest.

The Joint Undertaking may act as first user of AI-optimised supercomputers that integrate technologies primarily developed in the Union.

The Governing Board may decide in the work programme, if duly justified for security reasons, to condition the participation of suppliers in the acquisition of the AI-optimised supercomputers in accordance with Article 12(6) of Regulation (EU) 2021/694, or to limit the participation of suppliers for security reasons or where the actions directly relate to the Union’s strategic autonomy in accordance with Article 18(4) of that Regulation.

The AI-optimised supercomputers shall be located in a hosting entity of a EuroHPC supercomputer or a supercomputing centre located in the Union.

Without prejudice to the winding up of the Joint Undertaking, as referred to in Article 23(4) of the Statutes, at the earliest five years after the successful acceptance test by the AI-optimised supercomputer installed in a hosting entity, the ownership of the AI-optimised supercomputer may be transferred to that hosting entity or the AI-optimised supercomputer may be sold to another entity or decommissioned upon decision of the Governing Board and in accordance with the hosting agreement. In the case of transfer of ownership of an AI-optimised supercomputer, the hosting entity shall reimburse the Joint Undertaking the residual value of the supercomputer that is transferred. If there is no transfer of ownership to the hosting entity but a decision to decommission the AI-optimised supercomputer, the relevant costs shall be shared equally by the Joint Undertaking and the hosting entity. The Joint Undertaking shall not be liable for any costs incurred after the transfer of ownership of the AI-optimised supercomputer or after the sale or decommissioning of the AI-optimised supercomputer.

Article 12b

Artificial Intelligence gigafactory

An AI gigafactory shall be located in a Participating State that is a Member State. It shall be financially supported by a partnership between the Union and one or more Participating States, represented by the Joint Undertaking, and an AI gigafactory Consortium, which may include one or more technology infrastructure suppliers, legally represented by an AI gigafactory Coordinator. That partnership between the Joint Undertaking and the AI gigafactory Coordinator shall take the form of a Hosting Agreement. Each Participating State of the AI gigafactory partnership shall conclude an administrative agreement with the Joint Undertaking laying down the coordination mechanism for the payment of and reporting on contributions to applicants established in that Participating State. That agreement shall include the agreed access time of the Participating State, the schedule for access, conditions of payment, reporting requirements and audit requirements.

Multi-site AI gigafactories shall be operated by a single AI gigafactory Consortium and shall function as an integrated technical entity. Constituent sites of a multi-site AI gigafactory shall be interconnected with very high speed, high bandwidth networks. In a multi-site single-country AI gigafactory, at least one constituent site shall meet the scale of an AI gigafactory. A multi-site multi-country AI gigafactory Consortium shall be composed of at least one hosting entity per hosting Member State, and at least one constituent site from the participating Member States shall meet the scale of an AI gigafactory. Each hosting entity of a multi-site multi-country AI gigafactory shall be severally responsible vis-a-vis the Union for the Union contribution it receives. The multi-site multi-country AI gigafactory Consortium agreement shall specify the liability allocations between hosting entities, as well as the technical, operational, regulatory and financial responsibilities of each hosting entity.

Participation in an AI gigafactory Consortium of legal entities from non-Participating States shall be subject to restrictions or exclusion where such participation is considered contrary to the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy or security. In accordance with Regulations (EU) 2021/694, (EU) 2021/695 and (EU) 2021/1153, the call for expression of interest for the selection of an AI gigafactory Consortium shall restrict participation in the AI gigafactory Consortium to legal entities established in Participating States, or to legal entities established in specified associated countries of Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme and any subsequent relevant Union funding programme, or in other third countries in addition to Participating States which do not contravene the security and defence interests of the Union and its Member States. The restrictions and exclusions referred to in this paragraph shall not, in principle, apply to legal entities established in third countries which have signed an AI gigafactory Cooperation Agreement or a similar agreement with the Union. The call for expression of interest for the selection of an AI gigafactory Consortium may provide that legal entities established in other third countries are eligible, provided that such legal entities comply with the requirements applicable to those legal entities to guarantee the protection of the security interests of the Union and the Member States, and to safeguard classified information. Those requirements shall be set out in the work programme.

AI gigafactories shall be selected based on a joint procurement between the Joint Undertaking and one or more contracting authorities from the Participating States. An AI gigafactory Consortium shall benefit from an explicit commitment by the Member State, provided to the Joint Undertaking, to finance its share of the AI gigafactory to be established within the territory of that Member State, following its selection in accordance with paragraph 19. That commitment shall be provided by the Member State before the launch of the call for expression of interest.

The Union financial contribution referred to in Article 5 shall cover up to 17 % of the capital expenditure (CAPEX) investments in the overall computing infrastructure of the AI gigafactory. Alternatively, the Union contribution may take the form of a pre-agreed guaranteed purchase of access time to the AI gigafactory, equivalent in value up to 17 % of the CAPEX of the overall computing infrastructure of the AI gigafactory. One or more Participating States shall at least match the Union contribution. The remaining investment and the operational expenditure (OPEX) of the AI gigafactory shall be covered by the AI gigafactory Consortium. In the case of multi-site single-country AI gigafactories, the full Union contribution, with the corresponding compute access rights, may be allocated to the largest constituent site. In the case of multi-site multi-country AI gigafactories, the Union contribution may be allocated to AI gigafactories that meet the required scale and to one AI gigafactory per participating Member State.

A selected AI factory may substantially scale up to become an AI gigafactory. In such a case, the Union financial support already provided for that AI factory shall be counted as part of the Union’s contribution towards the CAPEX of the AI gigafactory computing infrastructure referred to in paragraph 5 of this Article. The same provisions apply for the Participating States. The AI factory hosting agreement referred to in Article 10 shall be amended accordingly, where appropriate. The additional investment into that AI factory that becomes an AI gigafactory and the OPEX of the AI gigafactory shall be covered by the AI gigafactory Consortium.

A Member State may provide its contributions for an AI gigafactory directly through national funding mechanisms or indirectly through other sources. A Member State shall, by administrative agreement with the Joint Undertaking, channel its respective contributions, including those referred to in paragraph 5 of this Article and any other additional contributions, in total or in part, through the Joint Undertaking, which shall then manage and disburse those funds to the identified AI gigafactory on that Member State’s behalf. The voluntary financial contribution may consist, in total or in part, ṅof funds a Member State receives under Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council ([^E0004]) or Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 ([^E0005]).

A Member State may decide to allocate part of the financial contribution it receives under Regulation (EU) 2021/241 (“RRF allocations”) to finance, in whole or in part, its voluntary financial contribution to an AI gigafactory in accordance with paragraph 7 of this Article, including to cover its contribution in cases where an AI gigafactory is not selected for Union funding. Member States may also decide to use their remaining RRF allocations to finance their national contributions to AI factories, supercomputers or quantum computers, or to other AI, quantum technology or HPC investments related to the objectives of the Joint Undertaking and identified by the Member State in its RRP. Member States shall channel such contributions through the Joint Undertaking in accordance with paragraph 7 of this Article. Upon the signature of a contribution agreement and the full and irrevocable transfer of the designated RRF allocations to the Joint Undertaking, at the latest by 31 August 2026, the Member State shall be deemed to have met the deadline set in Regulation (EU) 2021/241.

A Member State may decide to allocate part of the financial contribution it receives under Regulation (EU) 2021/241 or (EU) 2021/1060 or under another funding programme to finance the acquisition and operation of new, advanced, state-of-the-art AI, HPC or quantum computing service and data infrastructures within its territory. Such Member State may, by administrative agreement with the Joint Undertaking, channel such investments through the Joint Undertaking, which shall then manage and disburse those funds to the identified investment on its behalf. Upon the signature of a contribution agreement and the full and irrevocable transfer of the designated RRF allocations to the Joint Undertaking, at the latest by 31 August 2026, the Member State shall be deemed to have met the deadline set in Regulation (EU) 2021/241.

Upon request by the Member State concerned, an advanced, state-of-the-art infrastructure as referred to in the first subparagraph shall be awarded the EuroHPC AI and Compute Infrastructure Seal by the Joint Undertaking, provided that it achieves a performance level at least equivalent to that of any of the established EuroHPC supercomputers, including AI factories.

The Joint Undertaking shall federate and network the infrastructures having been awarded the EuroHPC AI and Compute Infrastructure Seal with the EuroHPC AI, compute or quantum infrastructures, as appropriate.

The Member State may decide to provide the Joint Undertaking with access time to the infrastructures funded in accordance with this paragraph. Such contributions shall not be taken into account for the calculation of the contribution referred to in Article 5(1). Such access time made available by the Member State shall be managed by the Joint Undertaking as part of the Union’s access time.

10.

Member States may provide the Joint Undertaking with access time to one or more of their EuroHPC supercomputers, AI factories or AI gigafactories through an administrative arrangement, which shall define the share of access time granted and its duration. Such access time shall become Union access time and shall be primarily used to grant access to start-ups and SMEs for their research or innovation activities. It shall not be taken into account as in-kind contribution by the Member States.

11.

The Union access time to one or more of the Member States’ EuroHPC AI factories or AI gigafactories may be used to give free access to European projects that develop open-frontier AI models that are major drivers of innovation, which will be selected through a Union-wide open competition organised by the Joint Undertaking. Such open models shall be made widely available to public authorities across Europe as well as to the European scientific and business communities. The Member States may complement that effort by providing to the Joint Undertaking additional access time for such projects of Union added value. Such access time shall not be taken into account as in-kind contributions by the Member States.

12.

The Joint Undertaking shall own the part of the AI gigafactory computing infrastructure corresponding to the Union contribution to the CAPEX referred to in paragraphs 5 and 6 for a duration of at least five years from the start of the AI gigafactory’s operations, as further specified in the AI gigafactory Hosting Agreement. Alternatively, where the Union contribution takes the form of a pre-agreed guaranteed purchase of access time to the AI gigafactory referred to in paragraph 5, the duration shall be of at least five years as further specified in the AI gigafactory Hosting Agreement. In either case, the duration shall be extended in the event of a substantial upgrade of the AI gigafactory computing infrastructure. Without prejudice to the winding up of the Joint Undertaking, as referred to in Article 23(4) of the Statutes, ownership shall be transferred in accordance with the AI gigafactory Hosting Agreement or be extended for an agreed period under the conditions specified in the AI gigafactory Hosting Agreement. In the case of transfer of ownership to the AI gigafactory Consortium, the residual value of the AI gigafactory computing infrastructure shall be converted into equivalent access time for the Union. Where no transfer of ownership to the AI gigafactory Consortium takes place in accordance with the Hosting Agreement, and a decision is taken to decommission, the relevant costs shall be borne by the AI gigafactory Consortium.

13.

The access time of the Union and the Participating States to an AI gigafactory shall be directly proportional to their respective financial contributions to the CAPEX of the computing infrastructure of the AI gigafactory, or to the pre-agreed guaranteed purchase of access time to the AI gigafactory.

14.

The Governing Board of the Joint Undertaking shall determine:

(a) the conditions of the Union’s access time to AI gigafactories;

(b) specific rules for access conditions to AI gigafactories that concern the allocation of the access time of the Union for projects and activities considered as strategic for the Union;

(c) specific rules for access conditions to AI gigafactories that concern the allocation of the access time of the Union for projects and activities related to security.

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