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.

What each company brings

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.

What comes next

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.

Story by Alina Maria Stan

Alina Maria Stan builds connections that people actually feel. As co-founder and COO of Tekpon, she turns product intuition into real moment (show all) Alina Maria Stan builds connections that people actually feel. As co-founder and COO of Tekpon, she turns product intuition into real moments of discovery, shaping how teams find and adopt SaaS every day. Since 2020, she has led Tekpon’s brand voice, media strategy, and growth plays with a clear focus on human outcomes behind every metric. Before Tekpon, Alina followed curiosity across industries and countries. She was CEO of King Casino Bonus and led affiliate and brand strategy at Extremoo Media and Fable Media in Denmark, where she learned how to build partnerships that last. Early on, she sharpened her CRM and pricing instincts at K.H. ApS, always asking why customers choose what they choose. Her approach is rooted in more than a decade of international experience and two master’s degrees, one in Sustainable Consumption from the Technical University of Munich and one in Consumer Affairs Management from Aarhus University.