European governments and private companies have committed around €200bn to artificial intelligence (AI)-related investments, including datacentres and gigafactories, over the course of the AI Action Summit in Paris.
It follows the inaugural AI Safety Summit hosted by the UK government at Bletchley Park in November 2023, and the AI Seoul Summit in South Korea in May 2024.
During the first day of the Paris Summit, dozens of major corporations and startups – led by venture capital firm General Catalyst – launched the EU AI Champions Initiative, to invest €150bn in European AI over the next five years.
It has already called for simplified AI regulation in Europe, greater investment in infrastructure, and a public campaign to improve people’s understanding and trust of the technology. “By seizing the moment, working with greater intention and embracing deep collaboration, Europe can seize a generational opportunity by leading in applied AI, integrating it into our industrial base to boost productivity, resilience and economic sovereignty,” said Jeannette zu Fürstenburg, managing director and head of Europe at General Catalyst.
Backers of the initiative include Deutsche Bank, German defence startup Helsing, French AI developer Mistral, and Swedish music-streaming giant Spotify.
Speaking on the first day of the Summit, European Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen announced a €50bn initiative called InvestAI to “top up” the investments coming through the AI Champions programme, proclaiming that “global leadership is still up for grabs”. She further outlined that an additional €20bn will be specifically invested in AI gigafactories.
“We aim to mobilise a total of €200bn for AI investments in Europe,” she said. “This unique public-private partnership, akin to a Cern for AI, will enable all our scientists and companies – not just the biggest – to develop the most advanced, very large models needed to make Europe an AI continent.”
In total, the combined investment from private companies and the EU makes it the largest public-private investment in the world.
In the run-up to the summit, French president Emmanuel Macron announced the country would attract €109bn worth of private investment in datacentres and AI projects “in the coming years”, including up to €50bn from the United Arab Emirates for a datacentre, and a further €20bn investment in AI infrastructure from Canada’s Brookfield Corporation. Further investments are expected from French companies Iliad SA, Orange SA and Thales SA.
On the second day of the summit, the UK government announced its own investment into AI research for cancer and drug discovery, which will be worth £82.6m.
The UK government also announced it would expand its involvement in the European High-Performance Computing (EuroHPC) Joint Undertaking, by committing a further £7.8m to funding UK researchers and businesses’ participation. It claimed the investment would enable British AI and computing researchers to work unobstructed with their European peers.
“The focus of this summit has been on how we can put AI to work in the public interest, and today’s announcements are living proof of how the UK is leading that charge through our plan for change,” said digital secretary Peter Kyle. “We’ve already set out a bold new blueprint for AI which will help to spark a decade of national renewal, and key to that plan is supporting our expert researchers and businesses with the support they need to drive forward their game-changing innovations.
“Today, we open new avenues for them to do exactly that – building bridges with our international partners so the entire global community can share in the boundless opportunities of AI-powered progress and backing new innovative companies applying AI to tackle real-world challenges.”
As part of its AI opportunities action plan, the UK government is also encouraging local authorities to put in bids for AI growth zones, which it has claimed will boost local and regional economic growth opportunities, particularly in deindustrialised areas of the country, through the construction of datacentres and other key infrastructure.
