An announcement on March 11, 2025, confirmed funding by the EU's European High Performance (EuroHPC) Joint Undertaking program, meaning that AI:AT will contribute significantly to European initiatives intended to boost Europe's competitiveness and innovative capacity in the field of AI. Consisting of the Advanced Computing Austria (ACA), the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, and a strong network of academic and industrial partners, the project consortium will build a state-of-the-art computing infrastructure and a comprehensive AI hub for the AI Factory.

Mag. Alexander Freischlager, JKU Vice-Rector for Campus Enhancements, Digitalization, & Sustainability, remarked: “The JKU is part of the consortium behind the application and will also be involved in sub-projects, benefitting, of course, from the overall project.” By expanding on the current infrastructure, JKU researchers will soon have even greater computing capacity at their disposal.

An AI Factory Hub and Services
In addition to upgrading the hardware, an on-site AI Factory Hub will serve as a ‘one-stop shop’, a co-working space, and a community center where approximately 60 employees will provide community support services as well as drive innovative advancements forward.

Application Scenarios and Impact
AI:AT will support and facilitate cross-sector projects in biotechnology, sustainability, energy and production efficiency. A ‘one-stop shop’ gives SMEs, particularly start-up companies, an opportunity to not only benefit from supercomputing resources and professional expertise, but also clear guidelines and secure data environments to guarantee reliable and an ethical AI development process.

Managed by Advanced Computing Austria Ltd (ACA) and the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, the AI Factory Austria (AI:AT) consortium’s additional partners include Vienna University of Technology, University of Vienna, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, University of Innsbruck, Graz University of Technology, the JKU Linz, the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), the business incubator INiTS, and EODC Earth Observation Data Centre for Water Resources Monitoring Ltd.