The tech sector is often perceived as being centered around West, largely due to the prominence of many influential tech companies headquartered in the U.S.. Closely behind, is China, which has lots of tech companies thriving.
Europe however, is kind of lagging behind the U.S. and China in tech investment.
While the region has a strong foundation in research and development, particularly in areas like AI and quantum computing, and that highly educated and skilled workforce is abundant, Europe lacks tech companies that can rival the scale and global reach of U.S. or Chinese giants. While it leads in setting up ethical and regulatory standards for technology, particularly in data privacy (GDPR), its focuses more on green technologies and sustainable development.
It also has a fragmented market which makes it difficult for tech companies to scale up.
But this is changing.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced a total of €109 billion in private investments in the AI ecosystem on Sunday evening.
Macron this during the time Paris hosts the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit — the third international summit focused on AI after the one in Bletchley Park in the U.K., and Seoul, South Korea.
"I can tell you this evening, Europe is going to speed up, France is going to speed up. And for us, France, we’re announcing at tomorrow’s summit €109 billion of investment in artificial intelligence over the next few years," President Macron said in a TV interview.
For the French President who has dedicated his career to making France more business-friendly, his message to fellow Europeans is clear: they should do the same.
Macron also shared his thoughts on prominent French AI startups like Mistral, Wandercraft, and Owkin, expressing confidence in Europe’s competitiveness in AI. He even suggested that the rise of DeepSeek—a dominant player feared even by the U.S.—presents an opportunity for France to catch up.
"There was 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."
French startups have secured significant investment commitments from both local and international sources.
This includes €30–€50 billion from the United Arab Emirates (and MGX), €20 billion from Canadian investment firm Brookfield, €10 billion from Bpifrance, and €3 billion from French telecom company Iliad, among others.
During the interview, Macron also highlighted Orange and Thales as key investors in the initiative.
According to the president, the majority of these investments will be directed toward AI-focused projects, particularly data centers.
Moreover, with France's electricity largely generated by nuclear power, the country benefits from lower carbon emissions and a surplus of energy. As an energy exporter, France is in a strong position to support the development of power-hungry data centers.
Calling to tech companies that are looking at new locations for data centers — ideally powered by carbon-free electricity — France is opening itself as an ideal location in Europe for these new projects.
"In France, we have an extraordinary lead. We produce some of the most decarbonized, controllable and safe electricity in the world. We have the safest and most stable grid. And we export this low-carbon electricity," Macron said.
According to Macron, France exported 90TWh of electricity to neighboring countries in 2024. Now, the country aims to leverage this energy surplus to attract foreign investment.
Arthur Mensch, co-founder and CEO of Mistral, announced plans to invest billions of euros in an AI cluster.
The Paris-based company is arguably the only European firm developing foundation models capable of competing with those from Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, Alibaba, and others.
“We’re going to do our bit and invest several billion euros in a cluster, which will be set up in Essonne, so that we can train even more efficient systems in just a few months’ time,” Mensch said on a local TV.
The announcement is France's answer to Stargate, which U.S. President Donald Trump announced a day after his inauguration.
The U.S. joint venture is having heavyweights like OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank spending up to $500 billion on AI infrastructure in America over the next four years.
"What’s that? It’s exactly the equivalent for France of what the United States announced with Stargate — $500 billion — it’s the same ratio," he said.
With Europe holding an insignificant 3-5% of global computing power, Macron said he hopes that the investment package, and the surplus power France can offer, can open the doors to Europe’s AI future.
"We are not in the race today," Macron said. "We are lagging behind."
"We need an AI agenda because we have to bridge the gap with the United States and China on AI."
Macron fears of Europe becoming merely an AI consumer, losing control over the future direction and development of the technology.
However, France is only taking its first steps toward this major shift in focus and still has a long way to go to catch up.
Attracting investors willing to commit their capital could prove challenging, especially as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens tariffs against European allies, claiming that the "EU treats us very, very unfairly, very badly."
Antagonizing Trump could further widen the U.S. trade deficit with the EU.
Macron, however, addressed these concerns, arguing that traditional trade deficit calculations overlook Europe’s substantial spending on digital services, which is often excluded from the equation.
In response to potential tariffs, he emphasized the need for Europe to protect its producers from American and Chinese competition while easing regulations on investments to prevent European savings from "leaking" to the U.S.