HPE expanded a partnership with Nvidia to launch an AI factory laboratory in Grenoble, France, a move aimed at addressing growing customer needs for more control and autonomy over infrastructure and data.

Announced during HPE’s Discover Barcelona event, the company stated the facility would allow customers to test and refine workloads in a sovereign, AI-cooled factory environment. The laboratory is equipped with Nvidia’s AI enterprise government-ready software, along with HPE servers and routers.

The environment will essentially give customers the ability to validate performance on infrastructure located and running in the European Union, “designed to support scaled AI for the region”, as well as address data sovereignty and regulatory compliance needs of global enterprises operating in the bloc.

Launching the laboratory in France is part of a wider expansion of HPE’s partnership with Nvidia, with the pair stating they would introduce new solutions for secure and scalable AI factories, and new AI data centre interconnect to optimise related workload performance across clusters operating over long distances or within multiple clouds.

Sovereign AI template
The laboratory in Grenoble will be available from Q2 2026. HPE also expanded its Private Cloud AI offering to address data and operational sovereignty, introducing new configurations and use cases.

Antonio Neri, president and CEO of HPE, said it and Nvidia provide the foundation for secure AI factories at any scale, showcasing strengths to deliver “full stack” infrastructures.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang added “every nation and enterprise needs to own the production of its intelligence”, explaining the partnership is “creating the template for sovereign AI”.

“The new AI factory lab provides a foundry where customers can turn data into value, securely and at scale,” he added.