What are Bull and Schwarz Digits building together?
France’s Bull and Schwarz Digits want to build a complete European artificial intelligence and cloud computing platform together, from the physical servers up to the software. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding, Bull said Tuesday, and announced the deal at the German government’s 2026 Digital Summit in Berlin.
Will sensitive data stay under European control?
The goal is to give European organizations the tools to develop and scale AI and enterprise computing without relying on systems outside the region. The partners say the focus is on regulated and strategic sectors in particular. Sensitive data, infrastructure and day-to-day operations would stay under European jurisdiction and control.
“Together, we demonstrate that Europe can deliver high-performance innovation entirely on its own terms,” said Bernie Wagner, chief revenue officer of Schwarz Digits.
Schwarz Digits is the technology arm of Schwarz Group, whose parent company owns the Lidl and Kaufland supermarket chains. It will contribute its STACKIT cloud platform. Bull will bring its experience running artificial intelligence and high-performance computing on large projects.
Where will the servers for the AI platform be built?
The servers would be built at Bull’s factory in Angers, France, which produces rack-scale AI systems. They would use Bull’s direct liquid cooling technology. The company said its systems took the top three places in June’s Green500 ranking of energy-efficient supercomputers. Bull also built JUPITER in Germany, which the company describes as Europe’s most powerful supercomputer.
Bull’s BullSequana AI platform will also be sold through the STACKIT Marketplace, giving access to businesses and public-sector customers.
“This partnership, which contributes to building a sovereign digital infrastructure in Europe, reflects our commitment to a resilient and competitive European ecosystem,” said Emmanuel Le Roux, chief executive of Bull.
The two companies say the agreement is only a first step. They intend to co-design servers based on Open Compute Project (OCP) standards. They also plan to work on integration with SAP RISE and on large high-performance computing projects. The partners will also explore integrating quantum computing.
Bull reports revenue of about €720 million and 3,000 employees across 32 countries. The announcement came one day after Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany and Europe must build their own AI more quickly.
This article was written with the assistance of AI.
News Factory APP - agentic news to boost your SEO & AEO.