Schwarz Digits and Bull Partner to Build AI Computing Services Under European Control

Schwarz Group owns the Lidl supermarket chain. Its digital arm will offer the services through STACKIT, its cloud business that rents out computing power and data storage. Bull, which Reuters describes as the state-owned French maker of Europe's fastest supercomputers, will be responsible for manufacturing. Financial terms were not disclosed.

What the Partners Plan

According to the companies' statement, the servers will draw on Bull's manufacturing in Europe. That includes rack-scale AI production at its factory in Angers, in western France, and Bull's experience with direct liquid cooling. Bull's BullSequana AI platform will be added to the STACKIT Marketplace, so that companies and public bodies already using STACKIT can build and run AI applications with Bull's software.

The two sides also plan to co-design server hardware based on Open Compute Project standards, and to work on SAP RISE integration and large high-performance computing projects. They will also look at integrating quantum computing. Reuters reported that business software from SAP could eventually be offered through the partnership.

The companies say the target market is regulated and strategic sectors that need to keep their data and operations under European 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. Bull chief executive Emmanuel Le Roux said the aim was to give European organisations capabilities "they can deploy and control".

A Broader European Push

The agreement adds to a series of moves by Schwarz to build a European alternative to US cloud and AI providers. The group is leading a C$7 billion (about $5 billion) funding round for Canadian AI lab Cohere, Reuters reported. Cohere is expanding in Europe through its acquisitions of German AI startup Aleph Alpha and Czech cybersecurity firm Aisle.

Bull doubled production capacity in October at its only European plant dedicated to supercomputers, according to Reuters. The company reports revenue of about €720 million, 3,000 employees, operations in 32 countries and 1,600 patents.

Why It Matters

Demand for sovereign AI infrastructure, meaning computing that stays under national or regional legal control, has been rising in Europe and the Gulf as governments and regulated industries hesitate to rely on US hyperscalers. The deal joins a European retailer's cloud business with a French state-owned hardware maker. That gives buyers an option where both the hardware supply chain and the cloud operator are European, a combination that has been hard to find at scale.

The agreement is only a memorandum of understanding for now. Neither company has given an investment figure, a capacity target or a launch date for the joint services.