Europe’s AI Factories Face Access Limits

By Suad Seferi · 11 October 2026

A review of European regulations and computing access programmes shows that all six Western Balkan economies have a route to Europe's AI infrastructure. High demand is already restricting access to some of its most powerful systems. Europe's AI Factories promise startups, researchers and businesses access to supercomputing resources that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive. The Western Balkans are included in that ambition, but an examination of European Commission documents and EuroHPC access rules reveals an important qualification: eligibility does not guarantee available computing capacity. All six Western Balkan economies are associated with the EU's Horizon Europe research programme. Under Article 16 of the EuroHPC Regulation, users established in countries associated with Horizon Europe or the Digital Europe Programme are entitled to access the European Union's share of computing time on EuroHPC supercomputers acquired after 2020, subject to the applicable access conditions. That includes organisations based in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. The opportunity is substantial. European programmes offer qualifying companies free access to GPU resources for AI development, testing and research. But EuroHPC's own notices show that demand is already affecting availability. Some computing systems are temporarily unavailable for new allocations, raising practical questions about how smaller companies can obtain the resources they need. Six economies, one European framework Much of the regional attention has focused on North Macedonia and Serbia, which were selected in October 2025 to host AI Factory Antennas. North Macedonia's VEZILKA initiative and Serbia's SAIFA are intended to connect local organisations with the European AI Factory network, including technical expertise, computing infrastructure and related services. Neither country, however, has exclusive access to the network. The European Commission's list of Horizon Europe associated countries includes all six Western Balkan economies. Article 16(4) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 provides an access entitlement to the Union's share of computing time on EuroHPC systems acquired after 2020. The distinction is particularly relevant for Kosovo. Although Kosovo is not named in one of EuroHPC's general AI Factory eligibility lists, it is officially associated with Horizon Europe. The broader regulation therefore provides a legal basis for access to qualifying computing resources. This does not remove the need to satisfy individual programme requirements. Applicants must still meet the conditions of the relevant call, including technical suitability and the proposed use of the infrastructure. It does mean that the absence of a national AI Factory or antenna should not automatically be understood as exclusion from European computing resources. How much computing can a startup receive? EuroHPC offers several access routes for industrial innovation, depending on the size and complexity of a project. The Playground programme is aimed at startups, small businesses and organisations beginning to work with advanced computing. It allows smaller AI experiments to receive allocations lasting one, two or three months. Applications are processed on a first-come, first-served basis. EuroHPC targets access within two working days after successful eligibility and technical assessments. The Fast Lane programme serves companies with more demanding requirements, allowing applications for up to 50,000 GPU hours. For projects requiring greater capacity, the Large Scale programme offers allocations exceeding 50,000 GPU hours, with project durations of three, six or twelve months. Qualifying research and innovation activities can receive access without computing fees. Commercial access outside those conditions may be charged. These arrangements create a realistic opportunity for regional developers working on language models, scientific applications and other computationally demanding AI systems. A company in Albania developing an Albanian-language model, for example, does not necessarily need to purchase its own high-performance hardware or wait for Albania to establish an AI Factory. It can explore the relevant European access programmes and apply for computing time. Whether its application succeeds depends on the project requirements and available resources. The capacity problem is already visible The clearest limitation appears in EuroHPC's published access notices. On its Large Scale access page, EuroHPC states that the MareNostrum and LUMI-G resources are unavailable for new allocations because of exceptionally high demand. Its Fast Lane programme also identifies the MareNostrum5 ACC partition as unavailable for new Fast Lane allocations. Applicants are advised to select alternative systems when their preferred computing resources cannot be accessed. These restrictions do not mean that Europe's entire AI Factory network has reached capacity. Other systems remain available through the relevant programmes. They do demonstrate that access is constrained by actual hardware availability, even when an organisation meets the formal eligibility requirements. For smaller businesses, choosing an alternative system may require adjustments to software environments, project schedules or computing requirements. EuroHPC also publishes limits on the maximum GPU hours that can be allocated on individual systems over specified periods. Large projects must take those constraints into account when planning their applications. The result is a system in which free access is possible but cannot be treated as unlimited or guaranteed. What the regional antennas change The AI Factory Antennas in North Macedonia and Serbia introduce another important dimension. Their purpose is to bring the services of established European AI Factories closer to national research and business ecosystems. This can include connecting companies wit…