Key takeaways:
- Microsoft unveiled a record €4 billion ($4.3 billion) investment in France to build more data centers, support more than 25,000 startups and train a million people in AI.
- The software giant also pledged to bring 25,000 GPUs to France by next year.
- Microsoft has been operating in France for 41 years.
Microsoft is investing a record €4 billion ($4.3 billion) in France to accelerate the adoption of AI and cloud technologies in the country. It also includes support and training for more than 25,000 French startups and training a million people in generative AI.
At the heart of the investment is an expansion of Microsoft’s data centers in the Paris and Marseille regions to handle rising demand for AI compute. It also pledged to bring 25,000 top-of-the-line GPUs to France by the end of 2025. The infrastructure will enable French organizations to develop, deploy and access the latest AI models and apps.
“It is truly an important day,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith at the conference. He said that the recent reforms made in France to make it more business friendly opened the doors to this record investment.
“For the fifth consecutive year, we are the most attractive country in Europe,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, at the Choose France conference. He said he looked forward to building AI competitiveness by “building European solutions.”
French AI startup Mistral is widely considered the country’s open source competitor to OpenAI.
Smith emphasized Microsoft’s 41-year history operating in France and recounted how a French hospital was able to save his baby daughter from premature death when he was an expatriate executive living in the country, as a visibly moved Macron looked on.
Backing for French AI startups
As part of the investment, the tech giant aims to train and support more than 2,500 French startups by 2027 through a new program called Microsoft GenAI Studio. This comprehensive initiative will provide participants with AI expertise, cloud credits, workshops, access to Microsoft’s AI experts, and collaboration opportunities with customers and partners.
A key component is a tailored 4-month accelerator program at Station F – the country’s largest startup campus − in Paris, which will run twice yearly over three years. Each batch will host 15 selected startups to help them integrate generative AI capabilities into their products and services through technical training and support. The first cohort starts next September.
In addition, Microsoft pledges to train a million French people in AI by 2027 through partnerships with government, universities, nonprofits and training services providers. The programs will focus on teaching the core concepts of AI and generative AI, such as in writing and creating other content. It also plans to train developers to better use and deploy generative AI.
