The French artificial intelligence sector is expected to receive 100 billion euros ($112.6 billion) of personal investments over the next few years, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday, just before the country’s global AI summit .
The announcement comes three weeks after US President Donald Trump introduced the Stargate project. It is a $500 billion joint venture between Openai, Oracle and SoftBank that focuses on US AI infrastructure for the next four years.
Speaking to French broadcaster TF1, Macron described the investment as “the equivalent of what the US announced as Stargate and France.”
“He described Muritvilion Euro’s commitment as a French Stargate equivalent, referring to President Donald Trump’s $500 billion AI investment project,” CNBC reported.
The French investment package includes funds from the United Arab Emirates, US and Canadian investment funds, French companies such as Telecom Giant Ziliad and Orange, and from Thales, aerospace and defense groups.
A few days before the AI Action Summit begins on Monday, the UAE announced investments of between 30 billion and 50 billion euros to build a 1 Gigawatt AI data centre in France as part of a broader technology development campus.
Iliad has pledged 3 billion euros to AI infrastructure, but Paris-based AI company Mistral plans to invest billions to establish its own data center in France .
Victor Riparbelli, CEO of British AI startup Synthesia, welcomed Macron’s 100 billion euro plan as a positive move on the European AI scene, but it’s more needed to Europe compete with the US and China I warned that there was.
“We need to set up a proper foundation for Europe to thrive as an ecosystem,” Ripalberi told CNBC’s Arjun Harpal on Monday. “It’s great that we’re investing more in infrastructure, but that alone won’t solve everything. What encourages is the political will that actually make things happen.”
Global AI races get hot
The AI Action Summit in Paris brings together world leaders and executives from leading high-tech companies. Participants include Vice President JD Vance, EU President Ursula von der Leyen, German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Google CEO Sundal Pichai, Microsoft President Brad Smith, and Open. CEO Sam Altman, Google Deepmind CEO Demis Hassavis and Human Rights E’s co-Dario Amody.
Elon Musk is not expected to be present.
Axios on Saturday plans to urge Openai’s Altman to shift global leaders to focus beyond the risks of AI, a common theme in Europe, and to consider the growth opportunities AI presents I reported that.
Meanwhile, Chinese company Deepseek’s new open source AI model R1 has sparked new industry debate over the massive spending on computing infrastructure needed to train these systems. Deepseek claims it spent $5.6 million in training on the latest model, but some experts are skeptical.
Semianalysis estimates Deepseek’s total hardware spend is over $500 million than its history, pointing to significant R&D and cost of ownership.
Google Deepmind’s Hassabis commented on Sunday that Deepseek’s model was “probably the best job” seen from China, but noted that it did not represent a major technical breakthrough. “Despite the hype, there are no real new scientific advances… using known techniques [in AI]Hassavis suggests that the topics around Deepshek may be “a bit exaggerated.”
Still, some fear that the AI sector is heading towards the bubble, as billions are poured into Nvidia’s sophisticated semiconductor-packed data centers.
Ahead of the summit, Mike Capone, CEO of US software company QLIK, told CNBC that Deepshek’s advancement is likely to dominate the debate as the government tackles China’s growing influence in AI. He said.
“This summit is not just about AI, it’s about influence,” Capone said. “While we, French and British leaders downplay the connections of deepseyk, China aims to show that it not only catches up, but also sets the pace, while strategic messaging. Expect war.”
“AI diplomacy is just as important as AI development right now. The fight isn’t about who builds the best model, it’s about who controls the AI story,” he added.
France’s efforts to rival the US in the high-tech sector are nothing new. In January 2019, President Macron announced plans to position France as a hub for AI startups. Later that year, in September, he followed up with a 5 billion euro investment aimed at driving growth for high-tech companies from home growing.
Source link
