IT4LIA AI Factory will act as a catalyst for the creation and growth of a more competitive AI ecosystem both in Italy and the EU, by leveraging on EUROHPC LEONARDO and TECNOPOLO BOLOGNA infrastructural assets and the rapidly growing AI national ecosystem. This proposal to establish a European AI Factory in Italy (equipped with an AI-optimized supercomputer) is crucial for nurturing and advancing the vision conceived in 2017, based on a collaborative strategy and a unified commitment at all government levels, including the Italian National Ministry of University and Research and the Emilia Romagna Regional Government, which led to the creation of Bologna Tecnopolo (a hub for supercomputing, big data processing, AI and quantum computing) and to the rapid growth of the national ecosystem. The strong support from the European Union EuroHPC played a key role in the success of this strategy.