Italian AI startup iGenius is set to complete a major data center project in southern Italy this summer, leveraging Nvidia’s Blackwell technology with a $1 billion investment over five years, according to CEO Uljan Sharka.
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Building One of Europe’s Most Powerful Supercomputers
The new supercomputer will reportedly be capable of performing 115 billion of billions of calculations per second, a significant leap from the 0.5 billion of billions handled by Europe’s top supercomputers just last year. Sharka credits this massive performance boost to Nvidia’s Blackwell chips, which offer 35 times more computing power while consuming 25 times less energy than previous models.
The data center will feature 80 of Nvidia’s GB200 NVL72 servers, each equipped with 72 Blackwell chips, positioning it among Europe’s most advanced AI computing facilities.
“Keeping the current pace, we aim to complete the project this summer,” Sharka said, highlighting that southern Italy’s surplus of renewable energy played a key role in selecting the location.
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Expanding Investment and AI Innovation
The scale of the project has led iGenius to extend its funding round beyond its initial €650 million target. Founded in 2016, iGenius is one of Europe’s few AI unicorns, competing with France’s Mistral and Germany’s DeepL in the highly competitive AI landscape.
Alongside the data center, iGenius also introduced Colosseum 355B, a large language model (LLM) optimized for industries with strict data protection and compliance requirements.
Unlike OpenAI, iGenius develops open-source AI models designed to run on customer-owned infrastructure, allowing businesses to maintain full control over their data. This approach is particularly appealing to companies in finance, heavy industry, and government sectors, where tight AI regulations often restrict cloud-based solutions.
Sharka confirmed that iGenius is already in talks with potential clients in these industries, reflecting growing demand for AI solutions that prioritize data security and regulatory compliance.