France President Emmanuel Macron has announced that foreign and local companies will invest €109bn ($113bn) in AI projects in the country to strengthen its position as an AI hub.
This financial commitment, revealed at the two-day AI summit in Paris, includes a €20bn from Canadian firm Brookfield for AI projects, with additional financing from the UAE potentially reaching €50bn.
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American tech giant Amazon has also committed more than €1.2bn, part of a larger €6bn investment to expand cloud infrastructure in France by 2031.
Apollo Global Management, an alternative asset manager, is contributing an initial $5bn for AI energy-related investments.
Digital Realty, a real estate investment trust specialising in data centres, is set to enhance its presence around Paris and in Marseille, with investments that could total €6bn.
Equinix, another data centre company, plans to invest €630m towards a €750m commitment for new data centres around Paris and in Bordeaux.
AI cloud platform firm FluidStack has signed a memorandum of understanding with the French government to construct one of the world’s largest AI supercomputers, with an initial investment of €10bn and operational status expected by 2026.
French startup Mistral AI, supported by Nvidia, is poised to launch Europe’s largest supercomputer and expand collaborations with French companies such as Veolia and Dassault Systemes.
Commenting on France’s announcement, AI integration company Jitterbit CEO Bill Connor said: “In 2025, organisations will need to be ‘risk on’ when it comes to AI. The AI race is on and business leaders will shift their decision making from “When/if we should employ AI?” to “How and where can we employ AI in a way that best serves our business needs?”
“Approaching automation with deployment of purpose-driven AI capabilities that are tailored to unique data environments, governance and security standards and business objectives are the new norm.
“In today’s competitive landscape, AI infusion offers a game-changing strategy for businesses,” said Jitterbit CTO Manoj Chaudhary.
Macron was cited by Reuters as saying that Europe will ease regulations to support AI growth, encouraging investment in the EU, especially in France.
