Stargate on the Seine: Macron unveils $113B AI investment
The French president said the initiative was similar to Trump’s Stargate announcement. For France, financial commitments have come from the UAE, investment funds, and companies like Iliad and Thales.
France’s artificial intelligence (AI) sector will receive 109 billion euros (USD 112.6 billion) of private investment in the “coming years,” President Emmanuel Macron has announced.
Macron told French broadcaster TF1 that the initiative was “the equivalent for France of what the United States announced with Stargate.”
The US joint venture, called Stargate, announced by President Donald Trump, will see OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank spend up to USD 500 billion on AI infrastructure in America over the next four years.
For France, financial commitments have come from the UAE, US and Canadian investment funds, and French firms like Iliad, Orange and Thales.
The UAE has pledged to invest between 30 billion euros and 50 billion euros in the construction of a one-gigawatt AI data center in France.
French telecom firm Iliad has committed to spending 3 billion euros on AI infrastructure, while French AI firm Mistral has said it would invest billions to build its own data center in the country.
French officials are, however, emphasizing the need to transition from voluntary commitments to concrete action regarding AI policy.
“We really want to make sure this is not only a conversation for the happy few, but a conversation for all of us ... all the people who want to participate in AI,” Anne Bouverot, France’s special envoy for AI, said.
