Europe Ramps Up AI Investment with €320 Billion Pledge at AI Action Summit

Here's what has been announced at the AI Action Summit

An artificial intelligence (AI) summit in Paris this week has seen the launch of new partnerships, foundations, and projects. Here are some of the major announcements from day one. It's been a busy week in Paris as the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit ramps up. The two-day summit brought together global leaders, technology industry executives, and scientists to discuss AI's impact on international security, economics, and governance. The summit, co-chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, takes place as countries such as the US and China race for AI dominance. The event is also an occasion to announce new partnerships, foundations, and projects. Euronews Next takes a look at some of the major announcements that have come in the last few days ahead and during the AI Action Summit. €150 billion for 'AI Champions' A group of 20 major corporations, firms, and startups rallied behind a plan to invest €150 billion in European AI over the next five years. The initiative, led by venture capitalist firm General Catalyst, wants to bridge the gap between investors and startups to "unlock Europe's full potential in AI". The group will also be working with the European Commission to "create a drastically simplified AI regulatory framework," with a discussion set with "a select group of CEOs," to start strategising on accelerating AI adoption. "By seizing this 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," Jeannette zu Fürstenberg, managing director of General Catalyst, said in astatement. More than 60 European companies have signed on to the initiative, including chipmaker ASML, Airbus, Mistral AI, Siemens, Spotify, Volkswagen, and L'Oreal Group. New public interest initiatives Macron launchedCurrent AI on Tuesday with an initial $400 million (€387 million) investment from the French government, philanthropists, and industry partners. According to a statement, the public interest foundation will "reshape" the AI landscape by expanding access to datasets, investing in open-source tools to make AI more transparent, and measuring AI's social and environmental impact. "We have a critical window to shape the future of artificial intelligence," Martin Tisné, the founder of Current AI, said in a statement. "AI has the power to transform access to jobs, healthcare, and education for the better, but only if we act now. Current AI will drive a shift towards open, people-first technologies". Eleven state governments, including EU members France, Germany, Slovakia, Finland, and Switzerland, are backing the project. Another non-profit, the Robust Open Online Safety Tools (ROOST) initiative, debuted on Monday. According to a statement, the initiative brings together tech leaders to develop and provide free, open-source safety tools to public and private organisations. The initiative will also make it easier to report online child sexual abuse material and will use the large language models that train AI systems to put in place "safety infrastructure". The NGO has support from the founders of Discord, OpenAI, Roblox, and other foundations. Mistral and Helsing team up for AI in defence A new partnership was announced at the summit on Monday between French start-up Mistral AI and Helsing, a European defence technology company, who will work together on AI systems in defence. A press release said the joint project will work on so-called vision-language-action models that will help defence platforms "understand their environment, communicate naturally with operators, and allow for faster, more reliable decisions in complex scenarios". Helsing already uses AI in its military technology, including in strike drones deployed in Ukraine. "Europe needs to assert its strength as a geopolitical actor, and AI leadership is the key to that strength," Gundbert Scherf, co-founder of Helsing, said in a statement. Macron pledges €109 billion for Europe's 'Stargate' One announcement made before the conference is Macron's declaration that his country's AI private sector will receive a dedicated €109 billion in the "coming years". Macron told French broadcasterFrance 2 that the investment is the "equivalent for France of what the United States announced with Stargate," referring to US President Donald Trump's $500 billion (€484.5 billion) AI private investment project announced in his first few weeks on the job. Part of this funding includes a previously madedeal with the United Arab Emirates to foot the bill for an amount between €30 and €50 billion to build a data centre campus that would be the largest in Europe, Le Monde reported. Canadian investment firm Brookfield also announced a €20 billion investment in AI infrastructure in France. French companies, including telecommunications firms Iliad and Orange, and Thales, an aerospace and defence group, are also contributing.

€200bn more mobilised for AI in Europe

Just days earlier, France announced a €109bn investment into AI. "Action", "Investments" and "opportunities" were some of the key takeaways from the third artificial intelligence (AI) summit which concluded in Paris this afternoon (11 February). Concluding the two-day summit held at the Grand Palais, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced an additional €50bn in investments, on top of the €150bn already mobilised yesterday (10 February) - taking the total investment pledged towards AI arising from event to more than €300bn. €10bn of the EU's investment is earmarked for 12 AI factories which were set up in "just a few months," von der Leyen said. "This is not a promise - it is happening right now, and it is the largest public investment for AI in the world". Over the weekend, French president Emmanuel Macron announced a €109bn AI investment over the years, in a bid to make France a leader in the latest chapter of the technology race. While on Monday, the EU 'AI Champions' initiative - a collective of more than 60 European companies - have pledged €150bn for "AI-related opportunities" in the continent over the next five years. The summit brought high profile names including US vice-president JD Vance, OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman and Taoiseach Micheál Martin to discuss the future of AI, improving its competitiveness, as well as safety and sustainability. Unsurprisingly, the US pushed for de-regulation Vice-president Vance emphasised the need for de-regulation while prioritising innovation in the AI space. Speaking at the second day of the event, he said: "I'm not here to talk about AI safety...I'm here to talk about AI opportunity." "We are too self-conscious, too risk averse," he added and argued that restrictions on AI would mean "paralysing one of the most promising technologies we have seen in generations." Vance criticised the EU's regulations on Big Tech, especially the Digital Services Act (DSA) and said that some of US's "most productive companies" are "forced" to deal with regulations that push to take down content and police "so-called misinformation". The EU's DSA regulates online platforms and curtails disinformation by preventing illegal and harmful activities online. The Commission has investigated a number of US-based tech giants under the Act, including Amazon, X and Meta, placing hefty fines on parties it finds to have breached its strict regulations. "The Trump administration is troubled by reports that some foreign governments are considering tightening screws on US tech companies with international footprints. America cannot and will not accept that, and we think it's a terrible mistake," Vance added US and UK avoid AI agreement promoting safety The summit presented the opportunity for attending nations to sign an international agreement on AI that promotes 'inclusivity' and 'sustainability' for the people and the planet. However, while 60 countries signed the agreement, including China, the US and UK avoided inking their pledges to the agreement. The agreement's main priorities also promote transparency, safety as well as security and trustworthiness. Responding to news outlets, a spokesperson for the UK's prime minister said that the government would "only ever sign up to initiatives that are in UK national interests". However, "[France] remain one of our closest partners in all areas of AI," the spokesperson added. Meanwhile, Forrester VP principal analyst Thomas Husson said: "I'd be very surprised if all participants were to sign a meaningful political declaration [at the summit]. At best, there might be some generic consensus on AI risks. Is it a failure? Definitely not. "French president Macron's agenda was not so much to reach an agreement, but to showcase France's assets in the AI race." Did France succeed? France made attempts over the past two days to place itself as a meaningful alternative to the US, UK and China in the AI race. Yesterday (10 February), French president Emmanuel Macron referenced US president Donald Trump while speaking to an audience and said: "I have a good friend in the other part of the world saying 'drill baby drill'. "Here there is no need to drill. It's just 'plug, baby, plug,' electricity is available." However, Macron's enthusiastic pitch, inviting AI investments and businesses in the country, along with the more the €100bn investment will ultimately not change much, explained Husson. "The US still dominates funding and investment in the infrastructure and is against any regulation," he said. Although, within Europe, France is still leading the AI charts, attracting 22pc of all venture capital investments into the technology, only trailing behind the UK, which leads AI investments at 33pc. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Europe just poured $8 billion into AI: Will it be enough to catch up?

European AI startups raised approximately $8 billion in funding during 2024, as the continent's tech ecosystem gains momentum ahead of the upcoming Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris. The summit will see heads of state and global tech leaders converge in France to potentially announce significant investments and agreements, especially regarding the safety and environmental impact of artificial intelligence. In preparation for the summit, early-stage venture capital firm Galion.exe, growth investment firm Revaia, and advisory firm Chausson Partners collaborated on the French AI Report, highlighting current trends in the sector. AI companies represented around 20% of all venture capital (VC) funding in Europe in 2024, with 70% of capital raised being allocated to seed to Series B rounds. The United Kingdom led the way in attracting VC funding, followed by France and Germany, while the Nordics also demonstrated notable success relative to their size. The trend indicates a likelihood of continued rapid growth as many AI startups are still at early stages. As AI companies expand, they increasingly attract international investors, with U.S. VC firms investing about 50% of the capital in AI companies at Series C rounds and beyond. Specifically in France, Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies Clara Chappaz noted the existence of over 750 startups that have generated around 35,000 jobs across various sectors. There are also around 2,000 scientists and 600 doctoral students dedicated to AI research in the country. The French AI Report analyzed the top 400 AI startups in France, identifying emerging leaders in the industry. While some companies like Mistral AI and Poolside are already recognized, many startups are focusing on niche applications rather than developing next-generation foundational models. For instance, companies such as Linkup and Kestra are optimizing data workflows and pipelines, while ZML enhances inference performance, and Dust develops agents to analyze large datasets and boost productivity. Can Huawei break Nvidia's stranglehold on AI? DeepSeek says so! Prominent sectors for AI applications in France include health and climate technologies. Notable players such as Owkin and its spin-off Bioptimus are leading the healthtech sector, concentrating on imaging tools, drug discovery, and improving medical treatments. Meanwhile, climate startups are leveraging AI for agritech, carbon management, and new materials development, with companies like Altrove emerging as significant contributors. Amidst this growth, industry leaders advocate for Europe not to lag behind the advancements in AI seen in the United States and China. Verena Pausder, chairwoman of the Startup Association, emphasized the need for Europe to act decisively against the competition posed by major U.S. players. She stated, "The global race for AI leadership is accelerating. Europe can rise to this challenge - with unity and determination," and highlighted the importance of mobilizing capital and ensuring fair competition. Maya Noël, CEO of France Digitale, echoed these sentiments, asserting that Europe possesses the necessary talent and infrastructure to lead in AI, urging for more investment in researchers and entrepreneurs. The associations involved have called for increased capital investment, a pan-European funding program, and standardized regulations to facilitate growth in the AI sector. While several European companies have gained recognition, such as Mistral AI, Germany's Aleph Alpha, DeepL, and Munich's Helsing, concerns remain regarding the widening gap with U.S. counterparts. In 2023, a partnership between OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank announced a combined investment of $500 billion to boost AI development in the U.S. Concurrently, Chinese startup DeepSeek recently unveiled a competitive AI model developed at a significantly lower cost, further intensifying the global competition.

AI Summit: EU, France to Invest $320 Billion in AI to Rival US, China | PYMNTS.com

This week's AI Action Summit in Paris -- the artificial intelligence (AI) community's equivalent of Davos -- saw the Europeans act decidedly un-European. The annual event, which is attended by global heads of state and industry titans, typically focuses on AI safety and regulations. But this year, safety has been eclipsed by talk of cutting red tape, innovating faster and accelerating investments in AI. The shift in mood comes as the EU AI Act, the most sweeping AI regulations in the world, took effect on Feb. 2. The European Union, with its 27 member states, is investing €200 billion ($207 billion) in AI, according to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the executive branch of the EU. "Too often, I hear that Europe is late to the race -- - while the U.S. and China have already gotten ahead," von der Leyen said in a speech Monday (Feb. 10). "I disagree because the AI race is far from over. Truth is, we are only at the beginning. The frontier is constantly moving. And global leadership is still up for grabs." In the U.S., President Donald Trump recently announced a $100 billion to $500 billion project called Stargate to build AI infrastructure, which will be funded by the private sector. Meanwhile, last month China reportedly set up a 60 billion yuan ($8.2 billion) AI investment fund, which is a private-public joint venture. Last year, Shanghai launched a 100 billion yuan ($13.8 billion) fund. Von der Leyen added that while past AI summits have "focused on laying the groundwork for AI safety ... this summit is focused on action." But the EU's approach will be distinctly European, she said. The continent will draw on its industrial and scientific heritage to apply AI to complex applications. AI development will also be cooperative, bringing together different countries, sectors and backgrounds. Third, Europe will focus on offering open-source AI systems, which "can spread much faster" while also developing proprietary systems. U.S. AI models are mostly proprietary closed models, like ones from OpenAI and Google. Von der Leyen laid out the EU's plan: In advance of the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will invest €109 billion ($112 billion) in AI projects over the next few years, according to a television interview with TF1, the nation's public broadcast service. (France and India are co-hosting the summit.) "This is a moment of opportunity by humanity," Macron said. That means France has to "invest, invest, invest" in AI. Macron, who compared France's investment to Stargate in the U.S., said funds will come from French companies, American and Canadian investment funds as well as from the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is investing between €30 billion and €50 billion ($31 billion to $52 billion) to build Europe's largest AI data center, in France. At the summit, Macron urged Europe and France to reduce red tape for AI projects to stay in the AI race, according to Le Monde. He added that France will adopt the "Notre Dame de Paris strategy" for AI development and application. The famous cathedral burned in 2019 and was rebuilt in five years. "We showed the rest of the world that when we commit to a clear timeline, we can deliver," he said. Macron also pointed to France's base of decades-old nuclear power plants as a key advantage to providing clean energy to support power-hungry AI. "I have a good friend in the other part of the ocean saying 'drill, baby, drill,'" Macron told the newspaper, quoting Trump's pro-fossil fuels policy. "Here, there is no need to drill. It's plug, baby, plug." he said. The U.S. and U.K. declined to sign an international agreement on AI, according to the BBC. At the summit, France, China and India are among 60 countries that have signed a pledge to ensure AI is "open," "inclusive" and "ethical." Another priority is to make AI sustainable for "people and planet." But JD Vance, the U.S. vice president who represented America at the summit, said in a speech that too much regulation of AI could "kill a transformative industry just as it's taking off." A spokesperson for the U.K. government said the declaration "didn't provide enough clarity" on global governance and also did not "sufficiently address harder questions around national security" risks that AI poses.

EU will put over $200 billion toward AI development

This week is the AI Action Summit in Paris and the European Union is using it as an opportunity to deep dive into the growing sector. The bloc has announced it's putting €200 billion ($206 billion) toward AI development. This number includes €20 billion ($20.6 billion) for AI gigafactories that process and train large models. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the plan, called InvestAI, at the AI Action Summit on Tuesday. She pushed the position that Europe isn't late to the competition against China and the US. "The frontier is constantly moving, leadership is still up for grabs, and behind the frontier is the whole world of AI adoption," von der Leyen stated. "Bringing AI to industry-specific applications and harnessing its power for productivity and for people, and this is where Europe can truly lead the race." The news follows France announcement that private investments are funneling €109 billion ($112.5 billion) into its AI ecosystem. The country is also committing a gigawatt of nuclear power for an AI computing project led by FluidStack. It will use Nvidia-made chips. January was a big month for AI growth in the US and China. In the US, OpenAI and SoftBank announced a $500 billion partnership called Stargate to create AI infrastructure. Then Chinese AI assistant DeepSeek exploded onto the global stage, with the company claiming it offers the same quality as its competitors -- but cost a lot less to built.

European AI startups have raised $8 billion in 2024 | TechCrunch

In just a few days, France will host the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit, with heads of state flocking to Paris to meet global tech leaders. They'll most likely announce some big investments and diplomatic agreements focused on safety or the environmental impact of artificial intelligence. Ahead of the summit, early-stage VC firm Galion.exe, growth investment firm Revaia, and advisory firm Chausson Partners have teamed up to create the French AI Report, which looks at the current trends in the tech ecosystem. While all eyes are currently on the U.S. and China with OpenAI looking to raise tens of billions of dollars and DeepSeek capturing everyone's attention, there has been a boom in AI startups in Europe, too. In 2024 alone, AI companies represented around 20% of all VC funding in the region. In total, that represents around $8 billion in funding for AI startups in 2024. That metric is most likely going to grow rapidly, as AI startups are still relatively young. Seventy percent of the capital raised by AI startups in 2024 was for a seed to Series B round. European countries that tend to attract VC funding in general have also become the main AI investment hubs, with the U.K. leading the group, France and Germany following suit, and the Nordics punching above its (demographic) weight. Here's the breakdown from 2020 to 2024: Interestingly, as AI companies become bigger, they tend to attract international investors, with U.S. VC firms accounting for around 50% of money invested in AI companies at the Series C round and later. In France more specifically, there are "more than 750 startups that have created 35,000 jobs and operate in all areas that are transforming today's society," Minister Delegate for artificial intelligence and digital technologies Clara Chappaz said at a press conference. She also mentioned that there are 2,000 scientists focused on AI research and 600 doctorate students working on artificial intelligence. And you may have noticed that there are quite a few French engineers and researchers working for AI companies in the U.S., too. The team behind the French AI Report looked more closely at the top 400 AI startups in France and tried to identify the rising stars. While Mistral AI and Poolside are already some familiar names for readers who have followed the AI industry, the vast majority of AI startups aren't working on the next foundation model. On the infrastructure front, some companies are optimizing the data workflows and pipelines, such as Linkup and Kestra, or improving inference performance, such as ZML, or developing agents that can sift through large data sets and improve productivity. Dust is a good example of that. But the reality is that most AI startups in France are focusing on applications for specific verticals. Based on this report, two important areas for AI startups in France are health and climate. Owkin and its spin-off biotech company Bioptimus have been leading the pack on the health tech front, but it's a surprisingly diverse group of companies with three big areas of interest: imaging tools, drug discovery, and medical treatment improvement. Similarly, while a large chunk of the AI industry is focused on productivity gains for office workers, artificial intelligence is also actively being used to build the next-generation of climate startups. In addition to agritech, carbon and energy management -- two topics that are related -- seem to be a big focus. There are also a handful of promising new materials companies that are emerging (Altrove, for instance). All the companies included in the list can be found here. You'll also find plenty of AI companies working on one job function (sales, customer care, HR or legal) and using AI to simplify the most common tasks. Of course, some companies aren't going to be there in five years. But many of them are currently growing at a rapid pace. We're still at the beginning of the AI revolution, and though it's easy to think about the AI industry as a zero-sum game with one country or one company "winning" over the others, it seems like the AI boom is more distributed than expected.

European AI startups raised $8 billion in 2024 | TechCrunch

In just a few days, France will host the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit, with heads of state flocking to Paris to meet global tech leaders. They'll most likely announce some big investments and diplomatic agreements focused on safety or the environmental impact of artificial intelligence. Ahead of the summit, early-stage VC firm Galion.exe, growth investment firm Revaia, and advisory firm Chausson Partners teamed up to create the French AI Report, which looks at the current trends in the tech ecosystem. While all eyes are currently on the U.S. and China with OpenAI looking to raise tens of billions of dollars and DeepSeek capturing everyone's attention, there has been a boom in AI startups in Europe, too. In 2024 alone, AI companies represented around 20% of all VC funding in the region. In total, that represents around $8 billion in funding for AI startups in 2024. That metric is most likely going to grow rapidly, as AI startups are still relatively young. Seventy percent of the capital raised by AI startups in 2024 was for a seed to Series B round. European countries that tend to attract VC funding in general have also become the main AI investment hubs, with the U.K. leading the group, France and Germany following suit, and the Nordics punching above its demographic weight. Here's the breakdown from 2020 to 2024: Interestingly, as AI companies become bigger, they tend to attract international investors, with U.S. VC firms accounting for around 50% of money invested in AI companies at the Series C round and later. In France more specifically, there are "more than 750 startups that have created 35,000 jobs and operate in all areas that are transforming today's society," Minister Delegate for artificial intelligence and digital technologies Clara Chappaz said at a press conference. She also mentioned that there are 2,000 scientists focused on AI research and 600 doctorate students working on artificial intelligence. And you may have noticed that there are quite a few French engineers and researchers working for AI companies in the U.S., too. The team behind the French AI Report looked more closely at the top 400 AI startups in France and tried to identify the rising stars. While Mistral AI and Poolside are already some familiar names for readers who have followed the AI industry, the vast majority of AI startups aren't working on the next foundation model. On the infrastructure front, some companies are optimizing the data workflows and pipelines, such as Linkup and Kestra, or improving inference performance, such as ZML, or developing agents that can sift through large data sets and improve productivity. Dust is a good example of that. But the reality is that most AI startups in France are focusing on applications for specific verticals. Based on this report, two important areas for AI startups in France are health and climate. Owkin and its spin-off biotech company Bioptimus have been leading the pack on the health tech front, but it's a surprisingly diverse group of companies with three big areas of interest: imaging tools, drug discovery, and medical treatment improvement. Similarly, while a large chunk of the AI industry is focused on productivity gains for office workers, artificial intelligence is also actively being used to build the next-generation of climate startups. In addition to agritech, carbon and energy management -- two topics that are related -- seem to be a big focus. There are also a handful of promising new materials companies that are emerging (Altrove, for instance). All the companies included in the list can be found here. You'll also find plenty of AI companies working on one job function -- sales, customer care, HR or legal -- and using AI to simplify the most common tasks. Of course, some companies aren't going to be there in five years. But many of them are currently growing at a rapid pace. We're still at the beginning of the AI revolution, and though it's easy to think about the AI industry as a zero-sum game with one country or one company "winning" over the others, it seems like the AI boom is more distributed than expected.

EU to mobilise €200 billion for AI investment

The European Commission also announced a fund specific to AI gigafactories to allow companies to train their AI models. Europe will mobilise €200bn euro for investment in artificial intelligence, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced at the AI Action Summit in Paris today. Of this, €20bn will be earmarked for AI gigafactories, which, according to the Commission, is needed to allow for "collaborative development" the most complex AI models. The announcement comes on the heels of French President Emmanuel Macron's announcement on Sunday of a €109 billion investment plan for AI projects in France in the coming years. Macron said the investment is "the equivalent for France of what the US has announced with 'Stargate'," referring to OpenAI's $500-billion programme. Von der Leyen said that she wants "AI to be a force for good and for growth". "We are doing this through our own European approach - based on openness, cooperation and excellent talent. But our approach still needs to be supercharged. This is why, together with our member states and with our partners, we will mobilise unprecedented capital through InvestAI for European AI gigafactories," she added. Last month, newly installed US President Donald Trump announced a joint venture, with Stargate, OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank, to invest billions of dollars in AI infrastructure in the country. The joint venture team will set up a separate company, deploying $100bn (€96bn) immediately and increasing the investment up to $500bn (€480bn) over the coming four years. The Commission announced seven initial AI factories in December and will soon announce the next five. The gigafactories will have around 100,000 last-generation AI chips, around four times more than the AI factories currently being set up. The aim is that companies, including smaller ones, can access large-scale computing power for future development. Last year, French AI developer Mistral AI warned about the high demand for using supercomputer facilities to train models. The gigafactories funded through InvestAI aims to be the largest public-private partnership in the world for the development of trustworthy AI, according to the EU executive. The Commission's initial funding for InvestAI will come from existing EU funding programmes which have a digital component, such as the Digital Europe Programme, Horizon Europe, and InvestEU. EU member states can also contribute by committing investment from existing earmarked cohesion funds. Funding of AI gigafactories with a mix of grants and equity will serve as one of the pilot cases for strategic technologies announced in the EU's Competitiveness Compass, its strategy for boosting growth.

EU launches €200 billion AI investment plan to build AI Gigafactories

The European Union is seeking private sector investment to boost computing capacity for training large AI models, as articulated by EU President Ursula von der Leyen at the AI Action Summit in Paris. In her speech, von der Leyen emphasized the importance of providing regional developers with access to robust infrastructure necessary for scaling innovations in AI. She indicated that while existing supercomputing hubs, referred to as "AI factories," serve as a foundation, the development of "AI Gigafactories" is crucial for training very large AI models. "As AI requires massive computational capacity, the next step will be to launch AI Gigafactories," she stated, noting that similar projects have been announced in the U.S. However, she asserted that European Gigafactories will make computational power accessible to all rather than being monopolized by a few entities. Europe just poured $8 billion into AI: Will it be enough to catch up? Von der Leyen noted the need for private sector engagement at these gigafactories to provide the necessary resources for startups in the EU, emphasizing that "we are far from widespread adoption of AI in our economy and society." She further revealed that this topic would be discussed at a closed-door plenary meeting during the summit. On the eve of the summit, French President unveiled a private sector AI investment package amounting to approximately $112 billion. In contrast, the U.S.-based Stargate project pledged $500 billion over four years for data center infrastructure to reinforce U.S. leadership in AI, putting pressure on the EU to respond decisively in the AI compute race. Switching to a collaborative pitch, von der Leyen suggested that Europe's emphasis on cooperation over competition in intellectual property development could attract capital for the next phase of AI infrastructure. She highlighted that this infrastructure would enable researchers and startups to access advanced computing capabilities, allowing industries to collaborate and share data. "It will allow hospitals to safely train models based on images and genomic data they own," she added, indicating potential advancements in basic science and climate modeling. In subsequent remarks at the summit, von der Leyen announced that the EU would contribute €50 billion for AI investment, supplementing a €150 billion commitment from private sector companies forming a coalition called the EU AI Champions. "I welcome the European AI Champions Initiative, that pledges €150 billion from providers, investors, and industry. And today I can announce that with our InvestAI initiative, we can top up by €50 billion," von der Leyen stated, aiming to mobilize a total of €200 billion for AI investment in Europe. She noted that this initiative would focus on industrial and mission-critical applications, positioning it as the largest public-private partnership globally for developing trustworthy AI.

European start-ups confident AI race not lost to the US and China

EU Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen announced a €200bn package to push the nascent AI industry in the EU. The European Union will channel €200 billion into AI investments in a bid to catch up with the thriving tech ecosystems in the US and China. "I hear that Europe is late to the race, by the United States or China, have already gotten ahead. I disagree because the AI race is far from being over," said Von Der Leyen on Tuesday morning during the closing of the Paris AI Summit organised by French President Macron. These investments are meant to help boost EU companies in developing more advanced AI systems following the release of popular AI chatbots like ChatGPT and China's DeepSeek. The announcement was warmly welcomed by multiple start-ups present at the Station F incubator in Paris during the event. "One of the things they've shown is that it's not all done to the largest companies. There's a lot that can be done. We have lots of innovation, lots of people figuring out how to do things more efficiently, faster, more respectful of the regulations that we do have here," insisted Yacine Jernite, Machine Learning and Society Lead at Hugging Face, a Franco-American AI company. The EU was one of the first powers to enshrine comprehensive regulations around AI such as the AI Act. But according to US Vice President JD Vance, this strict regulatory environment will simply slow down any form of cooperation with the EU. The US and the UK have notably refused to sign the summit's declaration that encourages countries to abide by certain ethics of AI governance following the summit in Paris. Some AI experts however believe European companies need to lose some of these rules if they want to be more competitive "what we need is European entrepreneurs working with American technology, and then we at least share the power. We share the revenue. But if we don't do anything and want to do on our own, we will fail because we don't have it. We don't have it, and the Americans have it. They have the technology, the capital and the speed and the innovation. So let's tear down the wall and accept them and cooperate with them, because the enemy is not the U.S," explained Fabian Westerheide, a German AI expert and long-time supporter of a stronger EU AI ecosystem.

EU mobilizes $200 billion in AI race against US and China

Jess Weatherbed is a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews. The European Union says it will channel €200 billion (about $206 billion) into artificial intelligence investments in a bid to compete with the US and China. At the AI Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the bloc would spend €50 billion (about $51 billion) to top up €150 billion (about $154 billion) in funding already pledged by a collective of private investors called the European AI Champions Initiative.

EU's AI Push to Get 50 Billion Euro Boost, EU's Von Der Leyen Says

PARIS (Reuters) - Europe will invest an additional 50 billion euros ($51.6 billion) to bolster the bloc's artificial intelligence ambition, European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday. It will come on top of the European AI Champions Initiative, that has already pledged 150 billion euros from providers, investors and industry, von der Leyen told the Paris AI Summit. "Thereby we aim to mobilise a total of 200 billion euros for AI investments in Europe," she said. Von der Leyen said investments will focus on industrial and mission-critical technologies. Companies which have signed up to the European AI Champions initiative spearheaded by investment company General Catalyst include Airbus, ASML, Siemens, Infineon, Philips, Mistral and Volkswagen. ($1 = 0.9690 euros) (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Richard Lough)

EU says AI race 'far from over' as bloc pledges 50-billion-euro investment boost

Ursula von der Leyen (CDU, r), President of the European Commission, stands in the plenary chamber of the European Parliament. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday said the EU would mobilize a total of 200 billion euros ($206.5 billion) for artificial intelligence investments in Europe, stressing that the race for AI leadership had not yet been won by China or the U.S. The sum includes previously-announced 150-billion-euro funding from investors and industry, which Von der Leyen announced the bloc will top up by another 50 billion euros. Speaking at the AI Action Summit in Paris, Von der Leyen said it would be the "largest public-private partnership in the world for the development of trustworthy AI," focused on industrial and mission-critical applications and powering European "gigafactories."

EU's AI push to get $50 billion boost, EU's von der Leyen says

Europe will invest an additional $51.5 billion to bolster the bloc's artificial intelligence ambition, European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday. It will come on top of the European AI Champions Initiative, that has already pledged 150 billion euros from providers, investors and industry, von der Leyen told the Paris AI Summit. "Thereby we aim to mobilize a total of 200 billion euros for AI investments in Europe," she said. Von der Leyen said investments will focus on industrial and mission-critical technologies. Companies which have signed up to the European AI Champions initiative, spearheaded by investment company General Catalyst, include Airbus, ASML, Siemens, Infineon, Philips, Mistral and Volkswagen.