site.btaHead of State Says Bulgaria Should Position Itself as Destination for High-tech Investments in AI Field

President Rumen Radev said Monday that Bulgaria should position itself on the global map as a destination for high-tech investments in the field of artificial intelligence. He hosted a roundtable discussion on the prospects for attracting high-tech investments in Bulgaria.

The President stressed that leading countries and companies are already in a hectic race to build artificial intelligence infrastructure. Radev raised the questions of where Bulgaria stands, what are the Bulgarian capabilities and level of ambitions in this regard, and whether the country has the potential, capabilities and ambition to build AI gigafactories. There is currently a hectic race in the world to build such huge gigafactories, the head of State said. He argued that Bulgaria has great advantages for these gigafactories: a stable energy system and a nuclear power plant, "which is very important, because of the fashion in Western Europe to close nuclear power plants and not build new ones - something that is now becoming a huge brake because there is no more surplus electricity."

Radev said that in the US only 3% of the areas that can absorb such giant factories are left unused. "In Western Europe, there is a problem with both land and power supply. The winner will be the one who can set aside some surplus energy and offer it for building a gigafactory," the President said. He added that it could be built in stages, starting with 50 or 100 megawatts and going up to 1,000 and more over the years. The winner will be the one who offers sites that meet seismic requirements, transport, communications, fibre optic routes, the President said.

As an advantage, he pointed out that Bulgaria is rich in water resources, important optical fibre routes cross the country, it has a strong IT sector and the Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology (INSAIT). "We have a really good combination to attract this type of investment," Radev said. He added that he is welcoming more delegations from abroad on this topic, but they are already asking specific questions. "I even have a checklist and the investors expect answers from me, but I cannot give them as president without the executive," Radev explained. The questions are what kind of area and power supply Bulgaria can provide, with what reliability and at what prices, as well as the quantity of water it can offer, as the cost of water for cooling is colossal, the head of State said.

According to him, the next two years or so are crucial, as the big IT giants are running out of opportunities in the US and going abroad. "Greece beat us to Microsoft's data centres years ago. Now we have an opportunity to attract a completely different generation of investment," Radev said. The problem, he said, is whether an organisation will be set up in Bulgaria to make this happen. "This is about public-private partnership. We have very strong businesses in Bulgaria that are building large green energy capacities and providing storage opportunities," Radev noted.

He is of the opinion that Bulgaria's overall image needs to be changed quickly, because is in certain cases the country is being avoided due to an instilled image of rampant corruption and political instability. "We need to come out of this image as soon as possible and see what we can offer," Radev said. His wish is that at Monday's forum the presidential institution, the executive, local authorities, business, education, jointly make a concept paper - a document of principle that all institutions can come up with together or separately in meetings with partners. "When we have this document and the State stands behind the business, we can attract foreign investors," the President said.