It seems 2025 has brought along with a season of Governments announcing billions worth of AI Investments. After US — almost immediately after Trump became president — announced several hundred billion dollars to be invested in AI, its now France, which is throwing its hat in the ring with a fresh €109 billion investment, one that is aimed at strengthening its AI capabilities. President Emmanuel Macron made the announcement ahead of the AI Action Summit in Paris, a global event that brings together representatives from nearly 80 countries, co-hosted by France and India, to discuss AI regulation, governance, and international cooperation. Macron and India PM Narendra Modi will co-chair the AI Action Summit.
Should the investment come to fruition, it would position France as a competitor to the US and China by expanding AI research and rolling out critical infrastructure for the sector. The investment of €109 billion combines private and public investments alike, and is set to come with major contributions from foreign partners, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Canadian asset management firm Brookfield.
A major portion of the funding will be directed toward building new data centers, advancing AI model training capabilities, and strengthening France’s semiconductor industry as well. The US has already made major strides in AI, and another major power in the AI sector is China, which has also been heavily investing in areas such as machine learning, automation, and semiconductor development (the results are evident when one looks at DeepSeek’s newfound popularity).
The UAE has pledged nearly half of the total investment – between €30 billion and €50 billion toward this initiative – with much of it expected to support the construction of a major data center complex in France. This project will be led by MGX, an investment fund backed by the UAE, which has previously invested in AI-related infrastructure projects. The planned data center is set to be the largest in Europe. Brookfield is not far behind, and the firm is now committed to investing €20 billion toward AI infrastructure in France. One of its key projects is a data center in Cambrai, a city in northern France, which will serve as a major hub for AI research and computing power.
“I can tell you this evening, Europe is going to speed up, France is going to speed up,” Macron commented on the matter. He also referenced the recent Stargate Project, adding, “The first battle for us Europeans is to invest, invest and invest.” According to him, France’s investment, when adjusted for economic scale, is comparable in ambition to the Stargate project.
Macron went on to add that there is a “race to scale up. Everybody thought you always had to be bigger and stronger. What did DeepSeek do with its open models? They have taken all accessible innovations from the latest OpenAI model and adapted them to their own model, using a more frugal approach,” he said. “Everyone will continue to do this. And that’s why you have to be in this race.”
For now, France is prioritizing the construction of energy-efficient data centers. AI systems require vast amounts of computational resources, and France’s reliance on nuclear energy provides a stable and relatively low-carbon power source for these facilities. Furthermore, increasing domestic semiconductor production would ensure that it has a reliable supply of critical components for AI applications. Beyond foreign investment, domestic AI firms are also playing a key role in France’s AI expansion. Mistral AI, a France-based AI firm, has also announced its own plans to construct a multi-billion-euro data center in the country.
Content originally published on The Tech Media – Global technology news, latest gadget news and breaking tech news.
