Nvidia's 'Sovereign AI' Push Gains Traction in Europe Amid Infrastructure Expansion

Nvidia's 'Sovereign' AI Could Win a Prize for Irony

Nvidia Corp. billionaire boss Jensen Huang, clad in his signature leather jacket, has been crisscrossing European capitals and sharing the stage with the likes of Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron as he pitches "sovereign" artificial intelligence, a vision of new data centers offering essential compute power within national borders rather than via dominant tech firms from abroad. But if there were prizes for irony, it's a concept that might win a few. Huang's pitch has understandably struck a chord with leaders desperate for new sources of productivity gains and for ways to avoid falling terminally behind in a tech race dominated by the US and China. Recent announcements include a partnership with French AI startup Mistral to build a cloud platform powered by 18,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips and a Germany-based industrial cloud for European manufacturing built with 10,000 Blackwell chips. It's not just Europe -- Nvidia has cut big sovereign AI deals in the Middle East -- but the Old Continent is where Huang sees computing capacity increase by a factor of 10 over the next two years. "It's coming," he said.

Europe's AI computing shortage 'will be resolved' soon, says Nvidia chief

Nvidia chief Jensen Huang said Europe's shortfall in computing power for artificial intelligence "will be resolved" soon, as the continent pushes to catch up with the US and China in the race to capitalise on the fast-developing technology. At least 20 AI data centres are planned across Europe in the next few years, Huang said at the VivaTech conference in Paris on Wednesday, as he predicted a tenfold increase in the region's data centre capacity within the next two years. This will include five "gigafactories" -- sites carrying hundreds of thousands of Nvidia's powerful graphics processing units, the chips needed to train and run large language models. "Europe is going all in on AI," Huang said. "The amount of AI infrastructure being built here will increase by an order of magnitude in the next couple of years." Part of that growth will come from an expanded partnership between Nvidia and Mistral AI, the French start-up that has emerged as Europe's best hope for a local developer capable of taking on AI rivals in the US and China such as OpenAI and DeepSeek. Mistral, in which Nvidia is an investor, will deploy 18,000 of the chipmaker's latest generation Blackwell GPUs at a new facility, in what its chief executive Arthur Mensch called a "transformative step" for the company that will "uphold Europe's technological autonomy". Mistral is building its first large-scale data centre in Essonne, just outside Paris, and plans to expand its infrastructure across Europe. The announcement follows Huang's warning in London on Monday that the UK was "missing" the infrastructure it needed to fulfil its AI potential, as Europe-based cloud providers Nscale and Nebius announced plans to build new facilities with thousands of Nvidia GPUs in the UK. Deals such as these will bolster Nvidia's efforts to promote "sovereign AI". They are vital to diversifying its business from a small clutch of primarily American Big Tech companies that account for a huge share of its revenues. Availability of local capital and reliable power supplies have been seen as a barrier to European AI capacity. Large AI facilities can cost tens of billions of dollars to build and consume huge amounts of energy. A report last October by the consultancy McKinsey warned of "significant challenges" in scaling up European AI capacity, including limited sources of power, a lack of electrical engineering skills and slow planning processes. McKinsey projected that data centres in the region would require as much as $300bn in investment to meet demand and nearly triple their power consumption by the end of the decade. In Paris on Wednesday, Huang touted a huge expansion of "indigenous-built AI infrastructure, here in Europe, by European companies, for the European market", on top of the data centres being built by US cloud providers. "Your AI shortage, your GPU shortage, will be resolved for you soon," he told the researchers and start-ups in the audience at VivaTech.

Nvidia's pitch for sovereign AI resonates with EU leaders

PARIS, June 16 (Reuters) - Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab CEO Jensen Huang has been pitching the idea of "sovereign AI" since 2023. Europe is now starting to listen and act. The concept is based on the idea that the language, knowledge, history and culture of each region are different, and every nation needs to develop and own its AI. Last week, the CEO of the artificial-intelligence chipmaker toured Europe's major capitals - London, Paris and Berlin - announcing a slew of projects and partnerships, while highlighting the lack of AI infrastructure in the region. In a place where leaders are increasingly wary of the continent's dependency on a handful of U.S. tech companies and after drawing ire from the U.S. President Donald Trump, his vision has started to gain traction. "We are going to invest billions in here ... but Europe needs to move into AI quickly," Huang said on Wednesday in Paris. On Monday of last week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced 1 billion pounds ($1.35 billion) in funding to scale up computing power in a global race "to be an AI maker and not an AI taker." French President Emmanuel Macron called building AI infrastructure "our fight for sovereignty" at VivaTech, one of the largest global tech conferences. After Nvidia laid out plans to build an AI cloud platform in Germany with Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), opens new tab, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for the digital sovereignty and economic future of Europe's top economy. Europe lags behind both the U.S. and China as its cloud infrastructure is mostly run by Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab, Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab and Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google, and it has only a few smaller AI companies such as Mistral to rival the U.S. ones. "There's no reason why Europe shouldn't have tech champions," said 31-year-old Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch, sitting beside Huang, who has led Nvidia for more than three decades, at a panel at VivaTech. "This is a gigantic dream." GIGAFACTORY PLANS UNLEASHED In France, Mistral has partnered with Nvidia to build a data centre to power the AI needs of European companies with a homegrown alternative. It will use 18,000 of the latest Nvidia AI chips in the first phase, with plans to expand across multiple sites in 2026. In February, the European Union announced plans to build four "AI gigafactories" at a cost of $20 billion to lower dependence on U.S. firms. The European Commission has been in touch with Huang and he had told the EU executive that he was going to allocate some chip production to Europe for these factories, an EU official told Reuters. Nvidia's chips known as Graphics Processing Units or GPUs are crucial for building AI data centres from the U.S. to Japan and India to the Middle East. In Europe, a push for sovereign AI could reshape the tech landscape with domestic cloud providers, AI startups, and chipmakers standing to gain from new government funding and a shift toward in-region data infrastructure. Nvidia also wants to cement demand for its AI chips, ensuring that even as countries seek independence, they still rely on its technology to get there. POWER COSTS The push is not without challenges. High electricity costs and rising demand could strain sourcing of electricity for data centres. Data centres account for 3% of EU electricity demand, but their consumption is expected to increase rapidly this decade due to AI. Mistral, which has raised just over $1 billion, is trying to become a European homegrown champion with a fraction of the money U.S. hyperscalers or large data-centre operators spend in a month. "Hyperscalers are spending $10 billion to $15 billion per quarter in their infrastructure. Who in Europe can afford that exactly?" said Pascal Brier, chief innovation officer at Capgemini (CAPP.PA), opens new tab, a partner of both Nvidia and Mistral. "It doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything, but we have to be cognizant about the fact that there will always be a gap." Mistral has launched several AI models which are used by businesses but companies tend to mix them with models from other companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab. "Most of the time it's not Mistral or the rest, it's Mistral and the rest," Brier said. ($1 = 0.7393 pound) Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Paris; Additional reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; Editing by Josephine Mason and Matthew Lewis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Artificial Intelligence Supantha Mukherjee Thomson Reuters Supantha leads the European Technology and Telecoms coverage, with a special focus on emerging technologies such as AI and 5G. He has been a journalist for about 18 years. He joined Reuters in 2006 and has covered a variety of beats ranging from financial sector to technology. He is based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Nvidia makes big play for Europe with infrastructure deals

Nvidia on Wednesday announced a slew of partnerships with European countries and companies spanning infrastructure to software as it looks to keep itself at the center of the global artificial intelligence story. Chief Executive Jensen Huang on Wednesday continued his tour of Europe with a keynote at Nvidia's GTC event in Paris, France, where he laid out some key European partnerships. Nvidia has been keen to position itself as an infrastructure company that can help countries and governments build data centers using its graphics processing units to unlock the potential of AI for local economies and populations. As part of that effort, Huang recently carried out a similar whirlwind trip to the Middle East, where Nvidia is planning to sell its latest chips as part of big data center buildouts in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. "Every industrial revolution begins with infrastructure. AI is the essential infrastructure of our time, just as electricity and the internet once were," Huang said in a Wednesday press release. "Europe has now awakened to the importance of these AI factories, the importance of this AI infrastructure," Huang said during a separate presentation on Wednesday. AI factories is the term Nvidia uses for massive data centers containing its GPUs. Huang added that AI computing capacity in Europe will grow by a factor of 10 in the next two years. The tech giant seeks to expand its international footprint and embed itself in national level AI infrastructure. That push into new markets is even more critical as U.S. export restrictions on Nvidia's most advanced chips have lost the company revenue in China. Nvidia said it is working with country governments, regional cloud and telecommunications firms and technology centers in Europe. One of the key partnerships announced is between Nvidia and French startup Mistral, which will build an "AI cloud" that will deploy 18,000 Nvidia Grace Blackwell chips. This will allow businesses to develop and use AI through Mistral's models, Nvidia said. Nvidia also announced infrastructure projects in Italy and Armenia. Orange and Telefonica are among the telecommunications companies also working with Nvidia in areas such as deploying AI applications and large language models as part of the newly announced deals. In Germany, Nvidia said it is building what it has dubbed as an "industrial cloud" that will feature 10,000 GPUs and will be specifically designed to provide services for European manufacturers. The big focus from Nvidia in Europe is around so-called "sovereign AI," the idea that data centers and servers that are providing services to users in the European Union, are actually located regionally rather than abroad. Nvidia also announced so-called "tech centers" in Europe, which will focus on advanced research, upskilling workforces and accelerating scientific breakthroughs in countries including the U.K., France, Spain and Germany. Nvidia also expanded a product called DGX Cloud Lepton -- something of a marketplace for GPUs -- with new cloud providers and integrated it with AI model repository Hugging Face. DGX Cloud Lepton works by allowing developers to access GPUs across the world to run AI applications.

Nvidia's first GPU was made in France -- Macron wants the country to produce cutting edge chips again

Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., left, and Emmanuel Macron, France's president at the 2025 VivaTech conference in Paris, France, on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday made a pitch for his country to manufacture the most advanced chips in the world, in a bid to position itself as a critical tech hub in Europe. The comments come as European tech companies and countries are reassessing their reliance on foreign technology firms for critical technology and infrastructure. Chipmaking in particular arose as a topic after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who was doing a panel talk alongside Macron and Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch, said on Wednesday that the company's first graphics processing unit (GPU) was manufactured in France by SGS Thomson Microelectronics, now known as STMicroelectronics. Yet STMicroelectronics is currently not at the leading edge of semiconductor manufacturing. Most of the chips it makes are for industries like the automotive one, which don't required the most cutting-edge semiconductors. Macron nevertheless laid his ambition out for France to be able to manufacture semiconductors in the range of 2 nanometers to 10 nanometers. "If we want to consolidate our industry, we have now to get more and more of the chips at the right scale," Macron said on Wednesday. The smaller the nanometer number, the more transistors that can be fit into a chip, leading to a more powerful semiconductor. Apple's latest iPhone chips, for instance, are based on 3 nanometer technology. Very few companies are able to manufacture chips at this level and on a large scale, with Samsung and Nvidia provider Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) leading the pack. If France wants to produce these cutting-edge chips, it will likely need TSMC or Samsung to build a factory locally -- something that has been happening in the U.S. TSMC has now committed billions of dollars to build more factories Stateside. Macron touted a deal between Thales, Radiall and Taiwan's Foxconn, which are exploring setting up a semiconductor assembly and test facility in France. "I want to convince them to make the manufacturing in France," Macron said during VivaTech -- one of France's biggest tech events -- on the same day Nvidia's Huang announced a slew of deals to build more artificial intelligence infrastructure in Europe. One key partnership announced by Huang is between Nvidia and French AI model firm Mistral to build a so-called "AI cloud." France has looked to build out its AI infrastructure and Macron in February said that the country's AI sector would receive 109 billion euros ($125.6 billion) in private investments in the coming years. Macron touted the Nvidia and Mistral deal as an extension of France's AI buildout. "We are deepening them [investments] and we are accelerating. And what Mistral AI and Nvidia announced this morning is a game-changer as well," Macron told CNBC on Wednesday.

Nvidia-mania took over Europe this week. Here's what I learned from Jensen Huang

Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., left, and Emmanuel Macron, France's president at the 2025 VivaTech conference in Paris, France, on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. Nvidia boss Jensen Huang has been on a tour of Europe this week, bringing excitement and intrigue to everywhere he visited. His message was clear -- Nvidia is the company that can help Europe build its artificial intelligence infrastructure so the region can take control of its own destiny with the transformative technology. I've been in London and Paris this week following Huang around as he met with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, journalists, fans, analysts and gave a keynote at Nvidia's GTC event in the capital of France.

Nvidia chief calls AI 'the greatest equalizer' -- but warns Europe risks falling behind

PARIS (AP) -- Will artificial intelligence save humanity -- or destroy it? Lift up the world's poorest -- or tighten the grip of a tech elite? Jensen Huang, the global chip tycoon, offered his opinion on Wednesday: neither dystopia nor domination. AI, he said, is a tool for liberation. Wearing his signature biker jacket and mobbed by fans for selfies, the Nvidia CEO cut the figure of a tech rockstar as he took the stage at VivaTech in Paris. "AI is the greatest equalizer of people the world has ever created," Huang said, kicking off one of Europe's biggest technology industry fairs. But beyond the sheeny optics, Nvidia used the Paris summit to unveil a wave of infrastructure announcements across Europe, signaling a dramatic expansion of the AI chipmaker's physical and strategic footprint on the continent. In France, the company is deploying 18,000 of its new Blackwell chips with startup Mistral AI. In Germany, it's building an industrial AI cloud to support manufacturers. Similar rollouts are underway in Italy, Spain, Finland and the U.K., including a new AI lab in Britain. Other announcements include a partnership with AI startup Perplexity to bring sovereign AI models to European publishers and telecoms, a new cloud platform with Mistral AI, and work with BMW and Mercedes-Benz to train AI-powered robots for use in auto plants. The announcements reflect how central AI infrastructure has become to global strategy, and how Nvidia -- the world's most valuable chipmaker -- is positioning itself as the engine behind it. At the center of the debate is Huang's concept of the AI factory: not a plant that makes goods, but a vast data center that creates intelligence. These facilities train language models, simulate new drugs, detect cancer in scans, and more. Asked if such systems risk creating a "technological priesthood" -- hoarding computing power and stymying the bottom-up innovation that fueled the tech industry for the past 50 years -- Huang pushed back. "Through the velocity of our innovation, we democratize," he told The Associated Press. "We lower the cost of access to technology." As Huang put it, these factories "reason," "plan," and "spend a lot of time talking to" themselves, powering everything from ChatGPT to autonomous vehicles and diagnostics. But some critics warn that without guardrails, such all-seeing, self-reinforcing systems could go the way of Skynet in " The Terminator " movie -- vast intelligence engines that outpace human control. "Just as electricity powered the last industrial revolution, AI will power the next one," he said. "Every country now needs a national intelligence infrastructure." He added: "AI factories are now part of a country's infrastructure. That's why you see me running around the world talking to heads of state -- they all want AI to be part of their infrastructure. They want AI to be a growth manufacturing industry for them." Europe, long praised for its leadership on digital rights, now finds itself at a crossroads. As Brussels pushes forward with world-first AI regulations, some warn that over-caution could cost the bloc its place in the global race. With the U.S. and China surging ahead and most major AI firms based elsewhere, the risk isn't just falling behind -- it's becoming irrelevant. Huang has a different vision: sovereign AI. Not isolation, but autonomy -- building national AI systems aligned with local values, independent of foreign tech giants. "The data belongs to you," Huang said. "It belongs to your people, your country... your culture, your history, your common sense." But fears over AI misuse remain potent -- from surveillance and deepfake propaganda to job losses and algorithmic discrimination. Huang doesn't deny the risks. But he insists the technology can be kept in check -- by itself. "In the future, the AI that is doing the task is going to be surrounded by 70 or 80 other AIs that are supervising it, observing it, guarding it, ensuring that it doesn't go off the rails." The VivaTech event was part of Huang's broader European tour. He had already appeared at London Tech Week and is scheduled to visit Germany. In Paris, he joined French President Emmanuel Macron and Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch to reinforce his message that AI is now a national priority.

Nvidia marks Paris tech fair with Europe AI push

Drawing high-powered tech CEOs and a presidential visit, the Vivatech trade fair opened in Paris on Wednesday with a bang as Nvidia boss Jensen Huang announced a major push into Europe. "In just two years we will increase the amount of AI computing capacity in Europe by a factor of 10," Huang told a packed hall in a southern Paris convention center, striding around the stage wearing his trademark leather jacket. He also announced a multi-billion-dollar partnership with French AI champion Mistral AI. President Emmanuel Macron arrived late on Wednesday afternoon for a tour of the show and meetings with European startups about technological sovereignty, a subject dear to his heart. "We want AI... that's secure, sustainable, humanist," Macron said. "We have to equip ourselves with the capacity to be at the heart of this struggle," he added, ahead of a panel discussion with Huang and Arthur Mensch, chief executive of French AI champion Mistral. People from around the globe thronged the halls of Vivatech, crammed with stands in blaring colors showing off the latest innovations from startups, tech giants and more traditional firms and patrolled here and there by gesticulating robots. Around 14,000 startups and more than 3,000 investors were expected in Paris, while organizers forecast total visitor numbers to at least equal last year's 165,000 people. Nvidia headlining Nvidia's Huang took top billing with an opening presentation of almost two hours that drew bouts of rapturous applause from attendees. The US firm's tie-up with Mistral will see the companies build a cloud computing platform powered by 18,000 of Nvidia's "Blackwell" high-end chips worth billions. Basing hardware in Europe would offer firms the "strategic autonomy they need", Mistral chief Mensch told AFP, adding that the project would "strengthen European technological leadership". Nvidia will also intensify work with existing partners like Germany's Siemens and France's Schneider Electric, Huang said. And it will help build multiple data centers in seven European countries. Europe is well behind competitors like the United States and China in building up the computing power needed to power generative artificial intelligence. The continent hosts "less than five percent of global computing power, whereas we consume 20%" Macron's office said in a press briefing ahead of the leader's visit to Vivatech. Trade war Nvidia has seen export restrictions slapped on its top-performing chips by Washington, with American politicians leery of ceding their country's lead in generative AI. Remaining high-tech controls on China are at issue in high-stakes trade talks with Beijing. Huang has warned that the US' superpower rival is nevertheless making swift strides to catch up. There was little sign of impact from export restrictions on Nvidia's chip sales in its May earnings release. But the company has warned the braking effect may be larger in the current quarter. US politics also preoccupies many European tech leaders and policymakers. Concerns range from Trump's mercurial tariff policy to the continent's ability to stand on its own without US tech giants -- and the massive gap in funding for AI development between the two sides of the Atlantic. "Sovereignty, which wasn't as important in the conversation just a year or two years ago, has become an absolutely strategic priority," Vivatech managing director Francois Bitouzet told AFP. Macron is expected to again emphasize "European technological sovereignty" on Wednesday, the Elysee said. Such remarks from the president would build on his hyping of French and European openness to AI at a Paris global summit in February. Macron, Mensch and Huang will dine together behind closed doors at the president's Elysee Palace residence on Wednesday evening.

Paris Vivatech fair to spotlight transition 'from AI as science fiction to applied AI'

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang headlines the opening day of the Vivatech trade fair on Wednesday, with around 14,000 startups expected at the four-day Paris gathering to showcase products embedding artificial intelligence into everyday life. Drawing high-powered tech CEOs and a presidential visit, Paris's Vivatech trade fair opening on Wednesday will spotlight hoped-for economic benefits from AI. The top attraction on the opening day of this year's four-day show will be Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, looking to make a mark in Europe for the company that builds the most computing hardware for artificial intelligence. French President Emmanuel Macron, a regular at Vivatech, will also attend the event at the southern Paris convention centre, the Élysée Palace said, with a walking tour and chats with "French Tech" startups on the agenda. Tech watchers expect more products than ever embedding AI into everyday life to be shown off in the exhibition halls. "What's changed from previous years is that we've moved from AI as science fiction to applied AI," Vivatech managing director Francois Bitouzet told AFP. He trailed around 30 sectors with concrete AI-powered products on show, from luxury to insurance, health, energy, cars, logistics and more. Around 14,000 startups and more than 3,000 investors are expected to travel to Paris from around the world, while organisers forecast total visitor numbers to at least equal last year's 165,000 people. Watch moreEmmanuel Macron cheered at start-up hub after announcing €109bn AI investment Nvidia headlining Nvidia's Huang - likely sporting his trademark leather jacket - has top billing with an opening presentation slated to last more than an hour. Bitouzet said it was a "source of pride" to bring aboard semiconductor heavyweight Nvidia, whose high-powered GPUs (graphics processing units) are widely used to power the latest generative AI models. "It proves that the European market in general and the French market in particular are attractive and that today (Nvidia) has ambitions for this market," the Vivatech boss added. EY's European tech, media and telecoms chief Cedric Foray predicted that "there will definitely be announcements targeted at Europe" from Nvidia. The US firm has seen export restrictions slapped on its top-performing chips by both the Joe Biden and Donald Trump administrations, with US politicians leery of ceding their country's lead in generative AI. Huang has warned that China is nevertheless making swift strides to catch up. There was little sign of impact from export restrictions on Nvidia's chip sales in its May earnings release. But the company has warned the braking effect may be larger in the current quarter. Tech sovereignty US politics preoccupies many European tech leaders and policymakers too. Concerns range from Trump's mercurial tariff policy to the continent's ability to stand on its own without US giants - and the massive gap in funding for AI development between the two sides of the Atlantic. "Sovereignty, which wasn't as important in the conversation just a year or two years ago, has become an absolutely strategic priority," Bitouzet said. Macron is expected to again emphasise "European technological sovereignty", the Élysée said. Such remarks from the president would build on his hyping of French and European openness to AI at a Paris global summit in February. Read moreAlly or threat? Paris summit weighs AI's impact on democracy Top French firms at Vivatech - where around half the exhibitors are local companies - will include Mistral AI, a French competitor to much-bigger OpenAI. Mistral's founder Arthur Mensch is set to discuss AI with Macron and Huang at a roundtable at the end of the first day of the event.

'Applied AI' set to dominate France's Vivatech trade fair

Paris (AFP) - Drawing high-powered tech CEOs and a presidential visit, Paris's Vivatech trade fair opening on Wednesday will spotlight hoped-for economic benefits from AI. The top attraction on the opening day of this year's four-day show will be Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, looking to make a mark in Europe for the company that builds the most computing hardware for artificial intelligence. President Emmanuel Macron, a regular at Vivatech, will also attend the event at the southern Paris convention centre, the Elysee Palace said, with a walking tour and chats with "French Tech" startups on the agenda. Tech watchers expect more products than ever embedding AI into everyday life to be shown off in the exhibition halls. "What's changed from previous years is that we've moved from AI as science fiction to applied AI," Vivatech managing director Francois Bitouzet told AFP. He trailed around 30 sectors with concrete AI-powered products on show, from luxury to insurance, health, energy, cars, logistics and more. Around 14,000 startups and more than 3,000 investors are expected to travel to Paris from around the world, while organisers forecast total visitor numbers to at least equal last year's 165,000 people. Nvidia headlining Nvidia's Huang -- likely sporting his trademark leather jacket -- has top billing with an opening presentation slated to last more than an hour. Bitouzet said it was a "source of pride" to bring aboard semiconductor heavyweight Nvidia, whose high-powered GPUs (graphics processing units) are widely used to power the latest generative AI models. "It proves that the European market in general and the French market in particular are attractive and that today (Nvidia) has ambitions for this market," the Vivatech boss added. EY's European tech, media and telecoms chief Cedric Foray predicted that "there will definitely be announcements targeted at Europe" from Nvidia. The US firm has seen export restrictions slapped on its top-performing chips by both the Joe Biden and Donald Trump administrations, with US politicians leery of ceding their country's lead in generative AI. Huang has warned that China is nevertheless making swift strides to catch up. There was little sign of impact from export restrictions on Nvidia's chip sales in its May earnings release. But the company has warned the braking effect may be larger in the current quarter. Tech sovereignty US politics preoccupies many European tech leaders and policymakers too. Concerns range from Trump's mercurial tariff policy to the continent's ability to stand on its own without US giants -- and the massive gap in funding for AI development between the two sides of the Atlantic. "Sovereignty, which wasn't as important in the conversation just a year or two years ago, has become an absolutely strategic priority," Bitouzet said. Macron is expected to again emphasise "European technological sovereignty", the Elysee said. Such remarks from the president would build on his hyping of French and European openness to AI at a Paris global summit in February. Top French firms at Vivatech -- where around half the exhibitors are local companies -- will include Mistral AI, a French competitor to much-bigger OpenAI. Mistral's founder Arthur Mensch is set to discuss AI with Macron and Huang at a roundtable at the end of the first day of the event.

Nvidia chief calls AI 'the greatest equalizer' -- but warns Europe risks falling behind

PARIS (AP) -- Will artificial intelligence save humanity -- or destroy it? Lift up the world's poorest -- or tighten the grip of a tech elite? Jensen Huang, the global chip tycoon, offered his opinion on Wednesday: neither dystopia nor domination. AI, he said, is a tool for liberation. Wearing his signature biker jacket and mobbed by fans for selfies, the Nvidia CEO cut the figure of a tech rockstar as he took the stage at VivaTech in Paris. "AI is the greatest equalizer of people the world has ever created," Huang said, kicking off one of Europe's biggest technology industry fairs. But beyond the sheeny optics, Nvidia used the Paris summit to unveil a wave of infrastructure announcements across Europe, signaling a dramatic expansion of the AI chipmaker's physical and strategic footprint on the continent. In France, the company is deploying 18,000 of its new Blackwell chips with startup Mistral AI. In Germany, it's building an industrial AI cloud to support manufacturers. Similar rollouts are underway in Italy, Spain, Finland and the U.K., including a new AI lab in Britain. Other announcements include a partnership with AI startup Perplexity to bring sovereign AI models to European publishers and telecoms, a new cloud platform with Mistral AI, and work with BMW and Mercedes-Benz to train AI-powered robots for use in auto plants. The announcements reflect how central AI infrastructure has become to global strategy, and how Nvidia -- the world's most valuable chipmaker -- is positioning itself as the engine behind it. At the center of the debate is Huang's concept of the AI factory: not a plant that makes goods, but a vast data center that creates intelligence. These facilities train language models, simulate new drugs, detect cancer in scans, and more. Asked if such systems risk creating a "technological priesthood" -- hoarding computing power and stymying the bottom-up innovation that fueled the tech industry for the past 50 years -- Huang pushed back. "Through the velocity of our innovation, we democratize," he told The Associated Press. "We lower the cost of access to technology." As Huang put it, these factories "reason," "plan," and "spend a lot of time talking to" themselves, powering everything from ChatGPT to autonomous vehicles and diagnostics. But some critics warn that without guardrails, such all-seeing, self-reinforcing systems could go the way of Skynet in " The Terminator " movie -- vast intelligence engines that outpace human control. "Just as electricity powered the last industrial revolution, AI will power the next one," he said. "Every country now needs a national intelligence infrastructure." He added: "AI factories are now part of a country's infrastructure. That's why you see me running around the world talking to heads of state -- they all want AI to be part of their infrastructure. They want AI to be a growth manufacturing industry for them." Europe, long praised for its leadership on digital rights, now finds itself at a crossroads. As Brussels pushes forward with world-first AI regulations, some warn that over-caution could cost the bloc its place in the global race. With the U.S. and China surging ahead and most major AI firms based elsewhere, the risk isn't just falling behind -- it's becoming irrelevant. Huang has a different vision: sovereign AI. Not isolation, but autonomy -- building national AI systems aligned with local values, independent of foreign tech giants. "The data belongs to you," Huang said. "It belongs to your people, your country... your culture, your history, your common sense." But fears over AI misuse remain potent -- from surveillance and deepfake propaganda to job losses and algorithmic discrimination. Huang doesn't deny the risks. But he insists the technology can be kept in check -- by itself. "In the future, the AI that is doing the task is going to be surrounded by 70 or 80 other AIs that are supervising it, observing it, guarding it, ensuring that it doesn't go off the rails." The VivaTech event was part of Huang's broader European tour. He had already appeared at London Tech Week and is scheduled to visit Germany. In Paris, he joined French President Emmanuel Macron and Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch to reinforce his message that AI is now a national priority.

Nvidia chief calls AI 'the greatest equalizer' but warns Europe risks falling behind

PARIS -- Will artificial intelligence save humanity -- or destroy it? Lift up the world's poorest -- or tighten the grip of a tech elite? Jensen Huang, the global chip tycoon, offered his opinion on Wednesday: neither dystopia nor domination. AI, he said, is a tool for liberation. Wearing his signature biker jacket and mobbed by fans for selfies, the Nvidia CEO cut the figure of a tech rockstar as he took the stage at VivaTech in Paris. "AI is the greatest equalizer of people the world has ever created," Huang said, kicking off one of Europe's biggest technology industry fairs. But beyond the sheeny optics, Nvidia used the Paris summit to unveil a wave of infrastructure announcements across Europe, signaling a dramatic expansion of the AI chipmaker's physical and strategic footprint on the continent. In France, the company is deploying 18,000 of its new Blackwell chips with startup Mistral AI. In Germany, it's building an industrial AI cloud to support manufacturers. Similar rollouts are underway in Italy, Spain, Finland and the U.K., including a new AI lab in Britain. Other announcements include a partnership with AI startup Perplexity to bring sovereign AI models to European publishers and telecoms, a new cloud platform with Mistral AI, and work with BMW and Mercedes-Benz to train AI-powered robots for use in auto plants. The announcements reflect how central AI infrastructure has become to global strategy, and how Nvidia -- the world's most valuable chipmaker -- is positioning itself as the engine behind it. At the center of the debate is Huang's concept of the AI factory: not a plant that makes goods, but a vast data center that creates intelligence. These facilities train language models, simulate new drugs, detect cancer in scans, and more. Asked if such systems risk creating a "technological priesthood" -- hoarding computing power and stymying the bottom-up innovation that fueled the tech industry for the past 50 years -- Huang pushed back. "Through the velocity of our innovation, we democratize," he told The Associated Press. "We lower the cost of access to technology." As Huang put it, these factories "reason," "plan," and "spend a lot of time talking to" themselves, powering everything from ChatGPT to autonomous vehicles and diagnostics. But some critics warn that without guardrails, such all-seeing, self-reinforcing systems could go the way of Skynet in " The Terminator " movie -- vast intelligence engines that outpace human control. "Just as electricity powered the last industrial revolution, AI will power the next one," he said. "Every country now needs a national intelligence infrastructure." He added: "AI factories are now part of a country's infrastructure. That's why you see me running around the world talking to heads of state -- they all want AI to be part of their infrastructure. They want AI to be a growth manufacturing industry for them." Europe, long praised for its leadership on digital rights, now finds itself at a crossroads. As Brussels pushes forward with world-first AI regulations, some warn that over-caution could cost the bloc its place in the global race. With the U.S. and China surging ahead and most major AI firms based elsewhere, the risk isn't just falling behind -- it's becoming irrelevant. Huang has a different vision: sovereign AI. Not isolation, but autonomy -- building national AI systems aligned with local values, independent of foreign tech giants. "The data belongs to you," Huang said. "It belongs to your people, your country... your culture, your history, your common sense." But fears over AI misuse remain potent -- from surveillance and deepfake propaganda to job losses and algorithmic discrimination. Huang doesn't deny the risks. But he insists the technology can be kept in check -- by itself. "In the future, the AI that is doing the task is going to be surrounded by 70 or 80 other AIs that are supervising it, observing it, guarding it, ensuring that it doesn't go off the rails." The VivaTech event was part of Huang's broader European tour. He had already appeared at London Tech Week and is scheduled to visit Germany. In Paris, he joined French President Emmanuel Macron and Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch to reinforce his message that AI is now a national priority.

Nvidia Chief Calls AI 'The Greatest Equalizer' -- but Warns Europe Risks Falling Behind

PARIS (AP) -- Will artificial intelligence save humanity -- or destroy it? Lift up the world's poorest -- or tighten the grip of a tech elite? Jensen Huang, the global chip tycoon, offered his opinion on Wednesday: neither dystopia nor domination. AI, he said, is a tool for liberation. Wearing his signature biker jacket and mobbed by fans for selfies, the Nvidia CEO cut the figure of a tech rockstar as he took the stage at VivaTech in Paris. "AI is the greatest equalizer of people the world has ever created," Huang said, kicking off one of Europe's biggest technology industry fairs. But beyond the sheeny optics, Nvidia used the Paris summit to unveil a wave of infrastructure announcements across Europe, signaling a dramatic expansion of the AI chipmaker's physical and strategic footprint on the continent. In France, the company is deploying 18,000 of its new Blackwell chips with startup Mistral AI. In Germany, it's building an industrial AI cloud to support manufacturers. Similar rollouts are underway in Italy, Spain, Finland and the U.K., including a new AI lab in Britain. Other announcements include a partnership with AI startup Perplexity to bring sovereign AI models to European publishers and telecoms, a new cloud platform with Mistral AI, and work with BMW and Mercedes-Benz to train AI-powered robots for use in auto plants. The announcements reflect how central AI infrastructure has become to global strategy, and how Nvidia -- the world's most valuable chipmaker -- is positioning itself as the engine behind it. At the center of the debate is Huang's concept of the AI factory: not a plant that makes goods, but a vast data center that creates intelligence. These facilities train language models, simulate new drugs, detect cancer in scans, and more. Asked if such systems risk creating a "technological priesthood" -- hoarding computing power and stymying the bottom-up innovation that fueled the tech industry for the past 50 years -- Huang pushed back. "Through the velocity of our innovation, we democratize," he told The Associated Press. "We lower the cost of access to technology." As Huang put it, these factories "reason," "plan," and "spend a lot of time talking to" themselves, powering everything from ChatGPT to autonomous vehicles and diagnostics. But some critics warn that without guardrails, such all-seeing, self-reinforcing systems could go the way of Skynet in " The Terminator " movie -- vast intelligence engines that outpace human control. "Just as electricity powered the last industrial revolution, AI will power the next one," he said. "Every country now needs a national intelligence infrastructure." He added: "AI factories are now part of a country's infrastructure. That's why you see me running around the world talking to heads of state -- they all want AI to be part of their infrastructure. They want AI to be a growth manufacturing industry for them." Europe, long praised for its leadership on digital rights, now finds itself at a crossroads. As Brussels pushes forward with world-first AI regulations, some warn that over-caution could cost the bloc its place in the global race. With the U.S. and China surging ahead and most major AI firms based elsewhere, the risk isn't just falling behind -- it's becoming irrelevant. Huang has a different vision: sovereign AI. Not isolation, but autonomy -- building national AI systems aligned with local values, independent of foreign tech giants. "The data belongs to you," Huang said. "It belongs to your people, your country... your culture, your history, your common sense." But fears over AI misuse remain potent -- from surveillance and deepfake propaganda to job losses and algorithmic discrimination. Huang doesn't deny the risks. But he insists the technology can be kept in check -- by itself. "In the future, the AI that is doing the task is going to be surrounded by 70 or 80 other AIs that are supervising it, observing it, guarding it, ensuring that it doesn't go off the rails." The VivaTech event was part of Huang's broader European tour. He had already appeared at London Tech Week and is scheduled to visit Germany. In Paris, he joined French President Emmanuel Macron and Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch to reinforce his message that AI is now a national priority. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Nvidia trumpets European AI infrastructure push

US chip giant Nvidia on Wednesday announced a broad infrastructure push into Europe, partnering with local companies to help build the continent's "own ecosystem" for AI, chief executive Jensen Huang said in Paris. Singling out a local firm, Huang said Nvidia would partner with French AI startup Mistral to build a cloud platform powered by 18,000 of Nvidia's latest high-end Blackwell chips.US chip giant Nvidia on Wednesday announced a broad infrastructure push into Europe, partnering with local companies to help build the continent's "own ecosystem" for AI, chief executive Jensen Huang said in Paris. "In just two years we will increase the amount of AI computing capacity in Europe by a factor of 10," Huang told attendees at the French capital's annual Vivatech trade fair, striding around the stage wearing his trademark leather jacket. California-based Nvidia is by far the largest producer of chips for AI -- notably the Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) originally developed for high-end gaming. Nvidia's chips have proved uniquely suited for generative AI, whether powering robots, software or self-driving cars. Singling out a local firm, Huang said Nvidia would partner with French AI startup Mistral to build a cloud platform powered by 18,000 of Nvidia's latest high-end Blackwell chips. Basing the billions of euros (dollars) worth of hardware in Europe would offer firms the "strategic autonomy they need", Mistral chief Arthur Mensch told AFP, adding that the project would "strengthen European technological leadership". Huang said that Nvidia would build up existing partnerships, such as with French electrical goods maker Schneider Electric, including on developing gigantic data centres dedicated to AI -- which Nvidia calls "AI factories". It will also strengthen work with Germany's Siemens on so-called "digital twins" simluating real-world environments, and on automating industrial processes. Nvidia plans to feed its chips into data centres across Europe, including in Spain, Italy, Britain, Finland, Germany and Sweden. The world's government chiefs "all want to have AI factories, they all want AI to be part of their infrastructure," Huang said. He added that Nvidia was partnering with major companies to develop their own AI models more easily, such as French banking giant BNP or cosmetics heavyweight L'Oreal. "I'm so happy that Europe is going all-in on AI," he said. Europe is well behind competitors like the United States and China in building up the computing power needed to power generative artificial intelligence. The continent hosts "less than five percent of global computing power, whereas we consume 20 percent," French President Emmanuel Macron's office said in a press briefing ahead of the leader's visit to Vivatech. With its ability to sell into China still crimped by American export restrictions, Nvidia is on the hunt for growth opportunities elsewhere around the world.

Nvidia's pitch for sovereign AI resonates with EU leaders

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been pitching the idea of "sovereign AI" since 2023. Europe is now starting to listen and act. The concept is based on the idea that the language, knowledge, history and culture of each region are different, and every nation needs to develop and own its AI. Last week, the CEO of the artificial-intelligence chipmaker toured Europe's major capitals - London, Paris and Berlin - announcing a slew of projects and partnerships, while highlighting the lack of AI infrastructure in the region. In a place where leaders are increasingly wary of the continent's dependency on a handful of U.S. tech companies and after drawing ire from the U.S. President Donald Trump, his vision has started to gain traction. "We are going to invest billions in here ... but Europe needs to move into AI quickly," Huang said on Wednesday in Paris. On Monday of last week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced 1 billion pounds ($1.35 billion) in funding to scale up computing power in a global race "to be an AI maker and not an AI taker." French President Emmanuel Macron called building AI infrastructure "our fight for sovereignty" at VivaTech, one of the largest global tech conferences. After Nvidia laid out plans to build an AI cloud platform in Germany with Deutsche Telekom, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called it an "important step" for the digital sovereignty and economic future of Europe's top economy. Europe lags behind both the U.S. and China as its cloud infrastructure is mostly run by Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet's Google, and it has only a few smaller AI companies such as Mistral to rival the U.S. ones. "There's no reason why Europe shouldn't have tech champions," said 31-year-old Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch, sitting beside Huang, who has led Nvidia for more than three decades, at a panel at VivaTech. "This is a gigantic dream." Gigafactory plans unleashed In France, Mistral has partnered with Nvidia to build a data centre to power the AI needs of European companies with a homegrown alternative. It will use 18,000 of the latest Nvidia AI chips in the first phase, with plans to expand across multiple sites in 2026. In February, the European Union announced plans to build four "AI gigafactories" at a cost of $20 billion to lower dependence on U.S. firms. The European Commission has been in touch with Huang and he had told the EU executive that he was going to allocate some chip production to Europe for these factories, an EU official told Reuters. Nvidia's chips known as Graphics Processing Units or GPUs are crucial for building AI data centres from the U.S. to Japan and India to the Middle East. In Europe, a push for sovereign AI could reshape the tech landscape with domestic cloud providers, AI startups, and chipmakers standing to gain from new government funding and a shift toward in-region data infrastructure. Nvidia also wants to cement demand for its AI chips, ensuring that even as countries seek independence, they still rely on its technology to get there. Power costs The push is not without challenges. High electricity costs and rising demand could strain sourcing of electricity for data centres. Data centres account for 3% of EU electricity demand, but their consumption is expected to increase rapidly this decade due to AI. Mistral, which has raised just over $1 billion, is trying to become a European homegrown champion with a fraction of the money U.S. hyperscalers or large data-centre operators spend in a month. "Hyperscalers are spending $10 billion to $15 billion per quarter in their infrastructure. Who in Europe can afford that exactly?" said Pascal Brier, chief innovation officer at Capgemini, a partner of both Nvidia and Mistral. "It doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything, but we have to be cognizant about the fact that there will always be a gap." Mistral has launched several AI models which are used by businesses but companies tend to mix them with models from other companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta Platforms. "Most of the time it's not Mistral or the rest, it's Mistral and the rest," Brier said.

What is Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's push for 'sovereign AI' that has struck a chord with European leaders?

On Monday, NVIDIA stock (NVDA) rallied nearly 2.6 percent, rebounding strongly from the previous close amid Israel-Iran tensions. The chipmaker continues to trade near its recent highs, riding on the backs of momentum in artificial intelligence and the recent buzz around 'Sovereign AI.' Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's push for 'sovereign AI' has struck a cord with leaders of European leaders as they are also pushing for the development of their own AI infrastructure, reports news agency Reuters. The concept of sovereign AI is based on the idea that the language, knowledge, history and culture of each region are different, and every nation needs to develop and own its AI, the report said. Jensen Huang has been advocating for the concept of "sovereign AI" since 2023. Now, Europe is beginning to take notice and respond. NVIDIA is looking to fill this gap in Europe by promising enhanced transparency and complete compliance with its data protection laws. ALSO READ: F-35 fighter jets are world's most advanced and Trump offered them to India. Know its key features, cost European leaders enthusiastically embraced his vision of 'sovereign AI' -- where each country must build its own AI infrastructure. It is pertinent to note that Sovereign AI refers to a nation's capabilities to produce artificial intelligence using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks, according to Nvidia blog. Sovereign AI encompasses both physical and data infrastructures. The latter includes sovereign foundation models, such as large language models, developed by local teams and trained on local datasets to promote inclusiveness with specific dialects, cultures and practices, it said. Jensen Huang toured Europe's major capitals- London, Paris and Berlin last week and announced a slew of projects and partnerships, while highlighting the lack of AI infrastructure in the region. Developing Sovereign AI requires multifaceted, coordinated and sustainable efforts across several key areas. In a place where leaders are increasingly wary of the continent's dependency on a handful of US tech companies and after drawing ire from President Donald Trump, his vision has started to gain traction. "We are going to invest billions in here ... but Europe needs to move into AI quickly," Huang said on Wednesday in Paris. ALSO READ: VA spokesperson issues clarification on bombshell report claiming doctors can refuse treatment to Democrats "Every industrial revolution begins with infrastructure. AI is the essential infrastructure of our time, just as electricity and the internet once were," said Huang, calling on Europe to exercise "bold leadership" in shaping innovation and prosperity for future generations. This comes as European nations have openly shared their concerns regarding how current AI models are using data. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's push for 'sovereign AI' comes at a time when EU has recognised this idea as imperative. In France, Mistral has partnered with Nvidia to build a data centre to power the AI needs of European companies with a homegrown alternative, according to Reuters. It will use 18,000 of the latest Nvidia AI chips in the first phase, with plans to expand across multiple sites in 2026. In February, the European Union announced plans to build four "AI gigafactories" at a cost of $20 billion to lower dependence on US firms. The European Commission has been in touch with Huang and he had told the EU executive that he was going to allocate some chip production to Europe for these factories, an EU official told Reuters. ALSO READ: VA policy change: US doctors can question veterans whether they attended Trump's rallies before treatment? In Europe, the drive for sovereign AI is poised to transform the tech landscape, benefiting local cloud providers, AI startups, and chipmakers as governments invest in regional data infrastructure. At the same time, Nvidia aims to secure continued demand for its AI chips -- positioning itself as an essential player, even as nations pursue technological self-sufficiency. On Monday of last week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced 1 billion pounds ($1.35 billion) in funding to scale up computing power in a global race "to be an AI maker and not an AI taker." French President Emmanuel Macron called building AI infrastructure "our fight for sovereignty" at VivaTech, one of the largest global tech conferences. After Nvidia laid out plans to build an AI cloud platform in Germany with Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), opens new tab, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for the digital sovereignty and economic future of Europe's top economy. (With inputs from Reuters)

Nvidia's pitch for sovereign AI resonates with EU leaders

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been pitching the idea of "sovereign AI" since 2023. Europe is now starting to listen and act. The concept is based on the idea that the language, knowledge, history and culture of each region are different, and every nation needs to develop and own its artificial intelligence. Last week, the CEO of the AI chipmaker toured Europe's major capitals -- London, Paris and Berlin -- announcing a slew of projects and partnerships, while highlighting the lack of AI infrastructure in the region. In a place where leaders are increasingly wary of the continent's dependency on a handful of U.S. tech companies and after drawing ire from the U.S. President Donald Trump, his vision has started to gain traction.

French President Rallies Behind Mistral-Nvidia Cloud Partnership | PYMNTS.com

"This is a game changer," Macron said, praising the new collaboration as key to strengthening France's technological independence. He added that the project would bolster French sovereignty with its own AI cloud, data centers and computing capacity. The initiative, which centers around building AI data centers in France using Nvidia chips, would expand Mistral's business model. The AI startup -- widely considered Europe's OpenAI - would transition from merely being a model developer to a vertically integrated AI cloud provider. Mensch said he got this idea for a French AI data center after hearing from enterprise customers who were looking for a European provider alongside U.S. hyperscalers Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. "We're still doing models," Mensch said, "but on top of that, we are going to be operating more of our software platform on digital assets that we're deploying -- and that we're deploying together." The partnership also reflects a broader vision shared by Huang, who used the occasion to reinforce his belief that national AI sovereignty is not just strategic -- it's existential. "A country can outsource a lot of things," Huang said. "But outsourcing all of your intelligence makes no sense." "The intelligence of your country encodes, embeds its people's knowledge, history, culture, common sense, values," Huang added. "That intelligence cannot be outsourced." "The data of your country belongs to your country ... like the land belongs to your country," Huang continued, adding that "you should find a way to learn how to harvest that data and transport that data into AI." The Mistral partnership is Nvidia's bet on building regional AI ecosystems beyond Silicon Valley. "Great technology companies are built with great leadership, great founders, great scientists," Huang said, calling Mensch "brilliant ... the best hope" for Europe. See also: Mistral Debuts Corporate Chatbot Amid Threefold Rise in Revenue The AI data centers project didn't come together by accident -- it took a nudge from the French president. Huang revealed that he asked for Macron's help to connect Mistral with France's largest companies. "I was at the president's office," Huang recounted. "I told Mr. President that Arthur Mensch needs the support of the largest companies in France. And Mr. President says, 'Who are they? Let me call them.' And he called them." Within days, Macron had rallied France's top corporate leaders to back the initiative. Macron positioned this as part of a broader strategic shift. "We want to cooperate with the Chinese, American, Korean solutions," he said, "but we want to be sure that we will choose this cooperation -- we will not be dependent on them." Mistral's evolution -- from a lean team of AI scientists to an enterprise software and infrastructure provider -- illustrates a new French AI playbook that emphasizes self-reliance, agility and cultural sovereignty. "The approach in Europe has to be much more hands-on," Mensch said. "It's long, it's complicated to get into an enterprise to bring value with AI. But once you learn that, then you're in a very good position." Mensch emphasized the need to embed local expertise into AI systems. "The only way you're going to be able to do that is to use all of the data that is getting produced by your operations," he said. "You want to build your own intelligence not only at the country level, not only at the European level, but also at the enterprise level." The Mistral-Nvidia deal marks a major milestone, but Macron made it clear it's just the beginning. "We want now to go upstream," Macron said. That means manufacturing chips in France, not just deploying them -- an ambition he tied to earlier French industrial efforts with SGS-Thomson and STM in the 1990s. For Huang, who's spent over 30 years steering Nvidia from graphics chips to global AI leadership, the stakes are clear. "You don't need the world's absolutely best AI that is generic," he said. "You need the best AI for you." Read more: Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch: Open Source Enables Cost-Effective, Powerful AI Read more: Stellantis and Mistral AI to Develop AI-Powered In-Car Assistant

Nvidia's pitch for sovereign AI resonates with EU leaders

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been pitching the idea of "sovereign AI" since 2023. Europe is now starting to listen and act. The concept is based on the idea that the language, knowledge, history and culture of each region are different, and every nation needs to develop and own its AI. Last week, the CEO of the artificial-intelligence chipmaker toured Europe's major capitals - London, Paris and Berlin - announcing a slew of projects and partnerships, while highlighting the lack of AI infrastructure in the region. In a place where leaders are increasingly wary of the continent's dependency on a handful of U.S. tech companies and after drawing ire from the U.S. President Donald Trump, his vision has started to gain traction. "We are going to invest billions in here ... but Europe needs to move into AI quickly," Huang said on Wednesday in Paris. On Monday of last week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced 1 billion pounds (US$1.35 billion) in funding to scale up computing power in a global race "to be an AI maker and not an AI taker." French President Emmanuel Macron called building AI infrastructure "our fight for sovereignty" at VivaTech, one of the largest global tech conferences. After Nvidia laid out plans to build an AI cloud platform in Germany with Deutsche Telekom, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called it an "important step" for the digital sovereignty and economic future of Europe's top economy. Europe lags behind both the U.S. and China as its cloud infrastructure is mostly run by Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet's Google, and it has only a few smaller AI companies such as Mistral to rival the U.S. ones. "There's no reason why Europe shouldn't have tech champions," said 31-year-old Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch, sitting beside Huang, who has led Nvidia for more than three decades, at a panel at VivaTech. "This is a gigantic dream." In France, Mistral has partnered with Nvidia to build a data center to power the AI needs of European companies with a homegrown alternative. It will use 18,000 of the latest Nvidia AI chips in the first phase, with plans to expand across multiple sites in 2026. In February, the European Union announced plans to build four "AI gigafactories" at a cost of $20 billion to lower dependence on U.S. firms. The European Commission has been in touch with Huang and he had told the EU executive that he was going to allocate some chip production to Europe for these factories, an EU official told Reuters. Nvidia's chips known as Graphics Processing Units or GPUs are crucial for building AI data centers from the U.S. to Japan and India to the Middle East. In Europe, a push for sovereign AI could reshape the tech landscape with domestic cloud providers, AI startups, and chipmakers standing to gain from new government funding and a shift toward in-region data infrastructure. Nvidia also wants to cement demand for its AI chips, ensuring that even as countries seek independence, they still rely on its technology to get there. The push is not without challenges. High electricity costs and rising demand could strain sourcing of electricity for data centers. Data centers account for 3% of EU electricity demand, but their consumption is expected to increase rapidly this decade due to AI. Mistral, which has raised just over $1 billion, is trying to become a European homegrown champion with a fraction of the money U.S. hyperscalers or large data-center operators spend in a month. "Hyperscalers are spending $10 billion to $15 billion per quarter in their infrastructure. Who in Europe can afford that exactly?" said Pascal Brier, chief innovation officer at Capgemini, a partner of both Nvidia and Mistral. "It doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything, but we have to be cognizant about the fact that there will always be a gap." Mistral has launched several AI models which are used by businesses but companies tend to mix them with models from other companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta Platforms. "Most of the time it's not Mistral or the rest, it's Mistral and the rest," Brier said.

Nvidia chief calls AI 'the greatest equalizer' - but warns Europe risks falling behind

PARIS -- Will artificial intelligence save humanity -- or destroy it? Lift up the world's poorest -- or tighten the grip of a tech elite? Jensen Huang, the global chip tycoon, offered his opinion on Wednesday: neither dystopia nor domination. AI, he said, is a tool for liberation. Wearing his signature biker jacket and mobbed by fans for selfies, the Nvidia CEO cut the figure of a tech rockstar as he took the stage at VivaTech in Paris. "AI is the greatest equalizer of people the world has ever created," Huang said, kicking off one of Europe's biggest technology industry fairs. But beyond the sheeny optics, Nvidia used the Paris summit to unveil a wave of infrastructure announcements across Europe, signaling a dramatic expansion of the AI chipmaker's physical and strategic footprint on the continent. In France, the company is deploying 18,000 of its new Blackwell chips with startup Mistral AI. In Germany, it's building an industrial AI cloud to support manufacturers. Similar rollouts are underway in Italy, Spain, Finland and the U.K., including a new AI lab in Britain. Other announcements include a partnership with AI startup Perplexity to bring sovereign AI models to European publishers and telecoms, a new cloud platform with Mistral AI, and work with BMW and Mercedes-Benz to train AI-powered robots for use in auto plants. The announcements reflect how central AI infrastructure has become to global strategy, and how Nvidia -- the world's most valuable chipmaker -- is positioning itself as the engine behind it. At the center of the debate is Huang's concept of the AI factory: not a plant that makes goods, but a vast data center that creates intelligence. These facilities train language models, simulate new drugs, detect cancer in scans, and more. Asked if such systems risk creating a "technological priesthood" -- hoarding computing power and stymying the bottom-up innovation that fueled the tech industry for the past 50 years -- Huang pushed back. "Through the velocity of our innovation, we democratize," he told The Associated Press. "We lower the cost of access to technology." As Huang put it, these factories "reason," "plan," and "spend a lot of time talking to" themselves, powering everything from ChatGPT to autonomous vehicles and diagnostics. But some critics warn that without guardrails, such all-seeing, self-reinforcing systems could go the way of Skynet in " The Terminator " movie -- vast intelligence engines that outpace human control. "Just as electricity powered the last industrial revolution, AI will power the next one," he said. "Every country now needs a national intelligence infrastructure." He added: "AI factories are now part of a country's infrastructure. That's why you see me running around the world talking to heads of state -- they all want AI to be part of their infrastructure. They want AI to be a growth manufacturing industry for them." Europe, long praised for its leadership on digital rights, now finds itself at a crossroads. As Brussels pushes forward with world-first AI regulations, some warn that over-caution could cost the bloc its place in the global race. With the U.S. and China surging ahead and most major AI firms based elsewhere, the risk isn't just falling behind -- it's becoming irrelevant. Huang has a different vision: sovereign AI. Not isolation, but autonomy -- building national AI systems aligned with local values, independent of foreign tech giants. "The data belongs to you," Huang said. "It belongs to your people, your country... your culture, your history, your common sense." But fears over AI misuse remain potent -- from surveillance and deepfake propaganda to job losses and algorithmic discrimination. Huang doesn't deny the risks. But he insists the technology can be kept in check -- by itself. "In the future, the AI that is doing the task is going to be surrounded by 70 or 80 other AIs that are supervising it, observing it, guarding it, ensuring that it doesn't go off the rails." The VivaTech event was part of Huang's broader European tour. He had already appeared at London Tech Week and is scheduled to visit Germany. In Paris, he joined French President Emmanuel Macron and Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch to reinforce his message that AI is now a national priority.

Nvidia's pitch for sovereign AI resonates with EU leaders

PARIS (Reuters) -Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been pitching the idea of "sovereign AI" since 2023. Europe is now starting to listen and act. The concept is based on the idea that the language, knowledge, history and culture of each region are different, and every nation needs to develop and own its AI. Last week, the CEO of the artificial-intelligence chipmaker toured Europe's major capitals - London, Paris and Berlin - announcing a slew of projects and partnerships, while highlighting the lack of AI infrastructure in the region. In a place where leaders are increasingly wary of the continent's dependency on a handful of U.S. tech companies and after drawing ire from the U.S. President Donald Trump, his vision has started to gain traction. "We are going to invest billions in here ... but Europe needs to move into AI quickly," Huang said on Wednesday in Paris. On Monday of last week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced 1 billion pounds ($1.35 billion) in funding to scale up computing power in a global race "to be an AI maker and not an AI taker." French President Emmanuel Macron called building AI infrastructure "our fight for sovereignty" at VivaTech, one of the largest global tech conferences. After Nvidia laid out plans to build an AI cloud platform in Germany with Deutsche Telekom, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called it an "important step" for the digital sovereignty and economic future of Europe's top economy. Europe lags behind both the U.S. and China as its cloud infrastructure is mostly run by Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet's Google, and it has only a few smaller AI companies such as Mistral to rival the U.S. ones. "There's no reason why Europe shouldn't have tech champions," said 31-year-old Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch, sitting beside Huang, who has led Nvidia for more than three decades, at a panel at VivaTech. In France, Mistral has partnered with Nvidia to build a data centre to power the AI needs of European companies with a homegrown alternative. It will use 18,000 of the latest Nvidia AI chips in the first phase, with plans to expand across multiple sites in 2026. In February, the European Union announced plans to build four "AI gigafactories" at a cost of $20 billion to lower dependence on U.S. firms. The European Commission has been in touch with Huang and he had told the EU executive that he was going to allocate some chip production to Europe for these factories, an EU official told Reuters. Nvidia's chips known as Graphics Processing Units or GPUs are crucial for building AI data centres from the U.S. to Japan and India to the Middle East. In Europe, a push for sovereign AI could reshape the tech landscape with domestic cloud providers, AI startups, and chipmakers standing to gain from new government funding and a shift toward in-region data infrastructure. Nvidia also wants to cement demand for its AI chips, ensuring that even as countries seek independence, they still rely on its technology to get there. High electricity costs and rising demand could strain sourcing of electricity for data centres. Data centres account for 3% of EU electricity demand, but their consumption is expected to increase rapidly this decade due to AI. Mistral, which has raised just over $1 billion, is trying to become a European homegrown champion with a fraction of the money U.S. hyperscalers or large data-centre operators spend in a month. "Hyperscalers are spending $10 billion to $15 billion per quarter in their infrastructure. Who in Europe can afford that exactly?" said Pascal Brier, chief innovation officer at Capgemini, a partner of both Nvidia and Mistral. "It doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything, but we have to be cognizant about the fact that there will always be a gap." Mistral has launched several AI models which are used by businesses but companies tend to mix them with models from other companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta Platforms. "Most of the time it's not Mistral or the rest, it's Mistral and the rest," Brier said. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Paris; Additional reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; Editing by Josephine Mason and Matthew Lewis)