A few days before the AI-related litigation summit in Paris, the French presidency announced the first of several expected financial initiatives related to AI. France’s Emmanuel Macron and United Arab Emirates Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan have signed a significant investment agreement to build a large data center dedicated to French artificial intelligence.
According to a report from AFP, France and the UAE were able to spend “3-50 billion euros” ($3.1-52 billion at the current exchange rate) to build AI campuses. Most investments will be directed to data centers with capacity up to 1GW.
On Thursday morning, French digital minister Clarachappaz said France had identified 35 locations. UAE’s data center investment will likely use that framework.
Approximately 65% of France’s electricity generation comes from nuclear power plants. The country also acquires approximately 25% of its electricity from renewable sources. As large tech companies struggle to reduce their carbon footprint, France is using the AI Action Summit as an opportunity to attract foreign investment, particularly in electricity-hungry data centers.
A consortium of French and Emirati investors support the French data center project. MGX, an investment company of Emirati dedicated to artificial intelligence, will contribute.
MGX was also listed as one of the first investors in Stargate, a massive AI investment project led by SoftBank and Openai. Commenting on Stargate and Chinese AI startup Deepseek’s recent breakthrough, Chapappaz hears he has hopes about the future outlook for France and Europe.
“The size and scale between these two announcements indicates that this is just the beginning,” she told a technology meetup hosted by Balderton and Photoroom on Thursday evening. “Because this technology is an opportunity to catch up,” she added.
On Monday and Tuesday, the heads of state gather in Paris to meet global technology leaders. They will probably release more investment transactions and joint statements. Diplomatic agreements can potentially focus on the environmental impact of artificial intelligence.
US Vice President J.D. Vice President of China Zhang Guoqing, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz are all expected to come to Paris’ Grand Palais for the summit.
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