Bull and Lidl owner’s Schwarz Digits team up on a European AI cloud

France’s Bull and Schwarz Digits, the IT arm of Germany’s Schwarz Group, plan to build a European AI and cloud infrastructure stack together. It would run from the servers to the software. The two companies agreed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), Bull said on Tuesday. They announced it at the German government’s 2026 Digital Summit in Berlin.

The companies say the partnership aims to let European organisations develop and scale AI and enterprise computing. It targets regulated and strategic sectors in particular. Sensitive data, infrastructure and 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, whose parent group owns the Lidl and Kaufland supermarket chains, will contribute its STACKIT cloud. Bull will bring its experience in AI and high-performance computing on large projects.

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.

In June, Bull’s systems took the top three places in the Green500 ranking of energy-efficient supercomputers, the company said. It also built the JUPITER supercomputer in Germany, which Bull calls Europe’s most powerful.

Bull’s BullSequana AI platform will also be sold through the STACKIT Marketplace to companies 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.

Beyond these first steps, the two companies intend to co-design servers based on Open Compute Project (OCP) standards. They also plan to work on SAP RISE integration and large high-performance computing projects. And they will explore quantum computing integration.

Bull reports about €720m in revenue and 3,000 staff in 32 countries. The announcement came a day after Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany and Europe must build their own AI more quickly.

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