2CRSi SA: 2CRSi, a Member of the ÆTHER Consortium

DJ 2CRSi SA: 2CRSi, a Member of the ÆTHER Consortium

2CRSi SA 
2CRSi SA: 2CRSi, a Member of the ÆTHER Consortium 
08-Jul-2026 / 07:00 CET/CEST 
Dissemination of a French Regulatory News, transmitted by EQS Group. 
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. 
 
=---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Press Release 

 2CRSi, a Member of the ÆTHER Consortium 

Leading European companies in industry, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and energy are joining forces to 
build the European continent's AI Gigafactories. 

The consortium announces its application for the European Commission's AI Gigafactory call for proposals and confirms 
that it is in advanced negotiations for the development of its first two European campuses in the Strasbourg region. 
 
Strasbourg, July 8, 2026 - The European consortium ÆTHER today unveils the composition of its founding members and 
announces its application for the European Commission's forthcoming AI Gigafactory call for proposals, to be launched 
as part of the EU's digital and industrial sovereignty strategy. 
 
Bringing together leading European players in energy, construction, cloud computing, semiconductors, high-performance 
computing, and artificial intelligence, ÆTHER pursues a clear ambition: to demonstrate that Europe possesses all the 
expertise required to design, build, power, operate, and scale AI infrastructure. 
 
Two Sites for a European AI Gigafactory Project 
 
AETHER Infrastructures, the project company behind the initiative, announces that it has entered into highly advanced 
negotiations to acquire two industrial sites in the Strasbourg region, which are intended to host AI computing 
facilities. 
 
Already equipped with the required infrastructure and administrative approvals, the first data center, FR-SXB1, is 
expected to begin operations during 2027, subject to the completion of the site's acquisition by the end of October 
2026. FR-SXB2 is expected to follow a few months later, subject to the completion of its acquisition by the end of 
December 2026. 
 
With a phased deployment, the two sites will initially provide a combined electrical capacity of 42 MW. Within 12 
months of commissioning, the objective is to secure an additional 40 MW of electrical capacity across both sites. 
 
The long-term ambition is to reach a total electrical capacity of more than 400 MW, subject to grid availability and 
the proposals of RTE, France's electricity transmission system operator, which are currently under review and are 
expected by the end of July 2026 for FR-SXB1. 
 
Located in the heart of Europe, in close proximity to the European institutions and at the center of the Rhine economic 
corridor, this dual-campus project is intended to become one of the most advanced artificial intelligence 
infrastructures on the European continent. 
 
More than an AI Gigafactory, ÆTHER aims to develop a European industrial model that integrates high-performance 
computing, sovereign cloud services, energy recovery, scientific research, industrial innovation, and regional 
development. 
 
The Project Is Built Around Five Core Commitments 
 
The first commitment is to ensure a net zero land take policy through the use of existing industrial sites. 
 
   -- Nhood is an international real estate solutions operator committed to urban regeneration. It supports 
  property owners, public authorities, and investors in the sustainable transformation of their assets and 
  communities through an integrated services platform that develops mixed-use, value-creating projects rooted in 
  local development dynamics, 
   -- Founded in 1861, Demathieu Bard is a leading independent construction and real estate group operating in 
  France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and North America, 
   -- Equans is a global leader in the energy and services sector, with expertise in the design, installation, 
  maintenance, and operation of multi-technical facilities, including electrical and thermal engineering systems and 
  digital solutions, 
will build and maintain campuses capable of restoring a productive purpose to existing sites while limiting the 
environmental impact of these new digital infrastructures. 
 
The second commitment focuses on the reindustrialization of Europe's high-performance computing value chain: 
 
   -- 2CRSi is a European manufacturer of high-performance servers and an Elite Partner of NVIDIA and AMD, 
 
   -- Axelera AI is a global leader in AI inference platforms, with its headquarters and engineering operations 
  based in Europe, 
   -- SiPearl is a European fabless designer of high-performance, low-power CPUs for supercomputing, artificial 
  intelligence, and sovereign data centers, 
   -- and the consortium's future technology partners, 
will contribute to the deployment of tens of thousands of processors and accelerators dedicated to the training and 
inference of artificial intelligence models. The consortium also intends to provide privileged access to emerging 
European technologies in order to accelerate their large-scale adoption. 

The third commitment is to achieve low-carbon energy across all consortium sites planned in Alsace as an initial step, 
with the support of the following partners: 
 
   -- ÉS Group (Électricité de Strasbourg), the leading regional multi-energy provider and a mission-driven 
  company, is committed to strengthening the competitiveness, electrification, and decarbonization of the Alsace 
  region through its wide range of energy activities, 
   -- Socomec is a French family-owned industrial group specializing in the availability and performance of 
  critical electrical power systems, 
   -- Projex is a French multidisciplinary engineering and critical infrastructure company, specializing in the 
  design and delivery of data centers, as well as in energy performance and building decarbonization, 
   -- Haffner Energy designs and supplies solutions for the production of electricity, renewable gases, 
  hydrogen, and sustainable fuels from biomass. With more than 33 years of experience, the company has developed 
  proprietary thermolysis and gasification technologies that provide local, cost-competitive, resilient, and 
  low-carbon energy for critical industrial infrastructure, including data centers, 
will support the development of energy generation, storage, and management capabilities, as well as the design of the 
low-carbon infrastructure required for the project. Collectively, these partners aim to demonstrate that the growth of 
artificial intelligence can be successfully aligned with the energy transition. 
 
The fourth commitment is based on ensuring full sovereignty over data and its use. 
 
ÆTHER's infrastructure will be operated by European companies. 
 
   -- Viridien is a global leader in advanced technologies, digital solutions, and Earth data, pushing the 
  boundaries of science to help build a more prosperous and sustainable future. Viridien specializes in the design, 
  optimization, and operation of high-performance computing infrastructures for scientific computing and 
  industrial-scale artificial intelligence, 
   -- Dassault Systèmes, through its OUTSCALE Cloud & AI brand, brings to ÆTHER the expertise of a sovereign 
  cloud operator capable of industrializing AI in critical, secure, and fully controlled environments that comply 
  with European requirements, serving regulated organizations, 
   -- and the consortium's future partners, 
will contribute their respective expertise in sovereign cloud computing, simulation, scientific computing, quantum 
computing, and mission-critical digital services. 
 
The fifth commitment is to fully integrate AI computing centers into their economic, academic, and regional ecosystems. 
 
In this context, local authorities-including the Grand Est Region and the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg-have already 
confirmed their support and their commitment to advancing the consortium's vision. With a strong focus on economic 
development and attractiveness, job creation, regional reindustrialization, sovereignty, technological excellence, they 
will play a vital role as key partners in the successful delivery of the ÆTHER project, including through their own 
future use of its capabilities. 
 
"Artificial intelligence represents a historic opportunity for Europe's reindustrialization. With ÆTHER, we are 
demonstrating that our continent already possesses all the expertise required to build its own strategic 
infrastructure," said Alain Wilmouth, Chairman of 2CRSi and initiator of the consortium. 
 
"As Alsace's regional energy provider, ÉS Group supports the ÆTHER project and will contribute its expertise in 
decarbonization and electrification solutions to help deliver it," said Marc Kugler, Chief Executive Officer of ÉS 
Group. 
 
"European sovereignty in artificial intelligence will also depend on our ability to master the energy that powers these 
critical infrastructures. By joining ÆTHER, SOCOMEC aims to help build a sovereign, resilient, and sustainable AI 
Gigafactory model, fully aligned with the requirements of the energy transition," said Michel Krumenacker, Chief 
Executive Officer of SOCOMEC. 
 
"European digital sovereignty can only be sustainable if it is built on efficient infrastructure, designed and 
developed site by site, region by region. This complementary approach is at the heart of ÆTHER Infrastructures: Nhood 
brings its expertise in the transformation and regeneration of existing real estate assets, while Projex provides 
end-to-end design and engineering services for critical infrastructure, combining performance, scalability, and 
low-carbon, water-efficient solutions. Together with this consortium, we are creating the conditions to enable the 
deployment of sovereign AI across Europe, support the reindustrialization of our regions, and generate long-term, 

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

July 08, 2026 01:00 ET (05:00 GMT)