French President Emmanuel Macron today announced an investment initiative that will inject €109 billion, or $112 billion, into the country’s artificial intelligence ecosystem.
Macron (pictured) detailed the plan on occasion of the AI Action Summit being held this week in Paris. The two-day artificial intelligence event is expected to draw hundreds of government officials, academics and private sector experts. Similar conferences were previously held in the U.K. and South Korea.
According to TechCrunch, most of the €109 billion allocated to the initiative will be used to build AI-optimized data centers. Between €30 and €50 billion is set to be provided by the United Arab Emirates. UAE-based investment firm MGX is expected to provide the initial financing.
MGX is also backing Project Stargate, a similar AI initiative that OpenAI launched in the U.S. last month. The latter project will see the ChatGPT developer team up with Oracle Corp. and SoftBank Group Corp. to build a network of AI-optimized data centers. The undertaking is expected to cost as much as $500 billion.
“This is the equivalent for France of what the United States announced with Stargate — $500 billion — it’s the same ratio,” Macron said.
Another €20 billion will be provided by Brookfield, a Toronto-based investment firm that is helping Intel Corp. upgrade its fab complex in Arizona. French investment bank Bpifrance is set to invest €10 billion while Iliad SA, one of the country’s largest internet providers, is adding €3 billion. Macron said that Iliad rival Orange Group and aerospace company Thales SA will participate as well.
Mistral is one of the AI providers that plan to build new AI infrastructure as part of the initiative. The company, which develops large language models and a consumer chatbot called Le Chat, today disclosed that it’s constructing a multibillion-dollar AI data center south of Paris. The facility is expected to come online in the coming months.
Mistral stated today that its data center will use the “latest chips” without elaborating. Last week, however, the company disclosed that it’s using processors from Nvidia Corp. rival Cerebras Systems Inc. to power its Le Chat chatbot. Cerberus sells a wafer-sized AI chip that features 4 trillion transistors organized into nearly 1 million cores.
The €109 billion plan to boost France’s AI ecosystem is one of several initiatives announced at the AI Action Summit today.
Another project, the EU AI Champions Initiative, is designed to support AI startups and infrastructure construction in the European Union. It’s reportedly backed by General Catalyst, KKR, Blackstone, EQT and other institutional investors. More than 60 companies are participating as well.
A third initiative announced at the event is known as ROOST, which is short for Robust Open Online Safety Tools. It’s designed to encourage the development of AI safety tools. The initiative is reportedly supported by $27 million in funding from OpenAI, Google LLC and other backers.
A second open-source initiative called Current AI likewise counts Google among its backers. Its goal is to make AI training datasets, development tools and infrastructure resources more accessible. Current AI has raised €400 million to date with the goal of securing another €2.1 billion over the next five years.
https://siliconangle.com/2025/02/10/france-announces-e109b-investment-boost-ai-ecosystem/
