AI expansion drives surging demand for connectivity and compute

The advancement of artificial intelligence is shifting part of the focus from algorithms to the infrastructures that enable its development. Experts, European institutions, and industry representatives agree that the expansion of AI will require an increasingly intense combination of computing capacity, data centers, advanced connectivity, and distributed information processing. The European Commission has placed this issue among the priorities of its digital strategy.

Brussels considers that the combination of cloud and edge computing will be essential for the next generation of digital services and has set a goal to deploy 10,000 highly secure edge nodes in the European Union by 2030, in addition to increasing the use of cloud-edge technologies among European companies.

The need to strengthen computing capabilities is also behind initiatives like InvestAI, the European program aimed at mobilizing up to 200 billion euros in investments related to artificial intelligence. The initiative includes the creation of AI gigafactories with the goal of providing the necessary computing capacity to train advanced models and develop applications in strategic areas for the European economy.

The European Commission highlights that artificial intelligence does not solely depend on the availability of models capable of generating content or automating processes. Its deployment requires infrastructures capable of moving, storing, processing, and protecting large amounts of information with performance, security, and resilience guarantees. This need is especially relevant in industrial applications, predictive maintenance systems, healthcare environments, or critical infrastructures where latency and service availability are determining factors.

The Commission itself has linked the development of artificial intelligence with the construction of new digital capabilities. Within its recent Technological Sovereignty package, Brussels has advocated for strengthening European infrastructure in areas such as cloud, data centers, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors to reduce external dependencies and reinforce the continent's competitiveness.

In parallel, initiatives like EuroStack argue that Europe needs to develop its own technological chain that spans from connectivity networks to the cloud, artificial intelligence, and digital platforms. Its promoters believe that the ability to deploy AI at scale will depend not only on software but also on the existence of strategic infrastructures capable of supporting the growth of the digital economy.

The needs for distributed processing are gaining special importance in industrial digitalization. Applications such as real-time quality control, digital twins, process automation, advanced data analysis, or predictive maintenance require computing capacity close to factories, logistics centers, or operational infrastructures to reduce response times and optimize process efficiency.

In this context, technology and telecommunications companies are expanding their infrastructure capabilities to respond to these new demands. Telefónica has placed the development of cloud, edge computing, connectivity, and cybersecurity among the necessary elements to drive digital sovereignty and artificial intelligence applications. The company recently completed a network of 17 edge nodes in Spain aimed at bringing processing and storage capacity closer to businesses, administrations, and new digital use cases.