EBN- French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday his country wants to be a leader in developing artificial intelligence technologies, with plans to invest more than 109 billion euros ($112 billion).
Macron said the investments would be pumped into France over the next five years to build data centers and other AI infrastructure, creating thousands of new jobs..
The French president likened Paris’ efforts in the field of artificial intelligence to the Stargate project launched by US President Donald Trump, a joint project recently formed between OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank to invest $500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States by 2029.
France boasts many well-trained experts, a strong education system and the space and energy to operate data centers,” Macron told heads of state and tech CEOs at an AI summit in Paris on Monday.
France has already allocated 35 sites nationwide for such large data centres, with nuclear power providing a significant amount of emission-free energy,” he added.
According to Macron’s office, a French-Emirati consortium plans to invest up to €50 billion in building an artificial intelligence complex in France, while Canadian investment firm Brookfield intends to invest up to €25 billion in artificial intelligence and related technology in the country.
