France announces $112B AI investment to rival US's Stargate project
What's the story
French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a massive private investment of €109 billion ($112.6 billion) in the country's artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
The move comes as France's answer to the United States's Stargate, a $500 billion AI investment project launched by US President Donald Trump.
The announcement comes ahead of the global AI summit in Paris where world leaders and tech giants are gathering this week.
Investment details
Global investors back France's AI initiative
The French AI initiative will be supported by a number of global investors, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), American and Canadian investment funds, and French corporations such as Iliad, Orange, and Thales.
Notably, the UAE has committed to investing between €30 billion and €50 billion in a one-gigawatt AI data center in France. This facility will be part of a tech campus for AI.
Corporate commitments
French companies commit to AI infrastructure development
French telecommunications giant Iliad has pledged €3 billion for AI infrastructure. Paris-based AI company Mistral also intends to invest heavily in building its own data center in France.
These corporate commitments are part of the wider private investment strategy unveiled by President Macron, which aims to strengthen France's position in the global AI landscape.
Summit attendees
AI summit attracts global leaders and tech giants
The AI summit in Paris will welcome world leaders and executives from top tech companies.
The attendees include Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US Vice President JD Vance, EU President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
From the tech world, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft President Brad Smith, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei will be present.
AI mindset
OpenAI's Altman to urge leaders to embrace AI opportunities
Altman is likely to call on world leaders at the summit to take a more expansive view of AI, not just focusing on risks but also on growth and opportunity.
The call comes amid debates over how much capital companies are spending on computing infrastructure to train their systems, triggered by Chinese firm DeepSeek's open-source AI model.
DeepSeek claimed that the total training costs for its AI model was $5.6 million, a claim that has been met with skepticism.