Bull, a leader in advanced computing and AI, and Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn), the world’s largest electronics manufacturer and leading technology solutions provider, announce a strategic collaboration to manufacture AI and Cloud infrastructure, from Europe to the global market.

The partnership will combine Bull’s leadership in AI systems design, deployment and go-to-market, with Foxconn’s global manufacturing scale and supply chain capabilities, to enable the delivery of AI infrastructure solutions, including computing systems and related components leveraging Bull’s factory in Angers (France) and Foxconn’s factories in Pardubice (Czech Republic).

Strengthening a resilient European supply chain for neo-cloud providers and AI factories

This approach will address the growing needs of European AI Factories initiatives and neo-cloud providers to reinforce regional industrial capacity, while maintaining competitiveness in terms of cost, quality and time-to-market.

The partnership focuses on European AI Factory and Infrastructure, closely aligning with the strategic vision for Sovereign AI. By anchoring the localised AI supply chain and computing capabilities in France, the initiative aims to serve as a key enabler for Europe’s sovereign AI ecosystem. To execute this strategic deployment in France, the project is expected to involve an initial investment exceeding EUR 120 million.

At a time when artificial intelligence is becoming a critical economic infrastructure, industry analyses show that Europe remains significantly dependent on external markets for key components and technologies, exposing it to potential supply disruptions and limiting its industrial autonomy. Today, Europe accounts for around 8% of global semiconductor manufacturing capacity, according to ING, and holds less than 5% market share in several key AI infrastructure segments, including cloud and advanced computing platforms, as highlighted by McKinsey.

Delivering next-generation AI servers and systems from France and the Czech Republic

Bull and Foxconn will initially focus on the manufacturing enablement and industrialisation of AI system, designed for demanding workloads such as AI training and inference. These systems will integrate advanced processors, including GPUs and other accelerators, together with high-performance memory, storage, scale out and scale up interconnect technologies. 

Designed as standalone systems or rack-level configurations, they will address the needs of a wide range of users – including enterprises, cloud and neo cloud service providers, research institutions and emerging AI factories, contributing to the expansion of a more structured and scalable AI ecosystem made within the European borders.

From an industrial perspective, manufacturing and initial testing will be carried out in Foxconn’s facilities in the Czech Republic, before assembly, final integration and system-level validation at Bull’s factory in Angers (France). 

“This partnership with Foxconn accelerates our transformation by positioning Bull as a key European player in AI and cloud systems, leveraging Bull’s technical leadership in HPC, with the ability to deliver the most advanced infrastructure at scale and with competitive time to market. It marks an important step in the execution of our strategy to address neo-cloud providers and AI Factories across Europe, India, Latin America. By joining forces with Foxconn, we are taking a concrete step to deliver competitive AI infrastructure made in Europe while contributing to a more resilient digital ecosystem within Europe.”

Emmanuel Le Roux, CEO of Bull

”Leveraging our global manufacturing expertise and growing European footprint, we aim to provide scalable and high-quality production capabilities to support the deployment of Bull-led AI systems across the region. This collaboration, which advances building sovereign AI infrastructure in Europe, reflects our commitment to enabling a resilient and competitive AI supply chain for the European market.”

Jesse Chao, Head of AI & Quantum at Foxconn