At AI summit, Macron unveils plans for $113 bn investments in France

French President Emmanuel Macron announced €109 billion ($112.5 billion) in investments for artificial intelligence (AI) and data infrastructure projects over the coming years.

The announcement came ahead of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, as the European country plans to rival the US and China in the booming AI field.

In an interview to France 2 TV on Sunday, Macron talked about the investment plans, which include contributions from domestic and international entities.

“The key message we want to send is: France and Europe are credible on AI, and we believe in it,” Macron said.

One such investment will be from the United Arab Emirates that will spend €30 billion and €50 billion to develop a massive data center campus in France.

Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management also announced a €20 billion investment to build AI infrastructure over the next five years.

Additionally, French companies such as Iliad SA, Orange SA, and Thales SA are expected to make investments.

“The first battle for Europeans is to invest, invest, invest,” the French president said. “If we regulate before we innovate, we won’t have any innovation and people will say, ‘We have great regulation in Europe, but we don’t have a single player.’”

The AI summit, which began on Monday, is expected to host several tech tycoons and world leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will co-chair the event.

Modi began a two-day visit to France on Monday, maintaining that Paris and New Delhi have “common interests.”

The summit is France’s way to position itself as a hub for AI advancements especially with US-based OpenAI dominating the field and China’s DeepSeek making an entry.

Macron referred to US President Donald Trump’s Stargate announcement, which involves major US tech firms planning to invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure over four years.

The French president also noted China’s competitive edge with DeepSeek’s rapid popularity.

“France and Europe need to quickly play catch up if they want to stay in the game,” he said.