13 May 2024 , 14:15
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Microsoft is making its biggest commitment to France by pledging to invest €4billion ($4.3billion) to boost France's artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
The pledge forms part of a broader strategy revealed at President Emmanuel Macron's pro-business initiative, Choose France, aiming to draw international financial support and foster economic growth. Brad Smith, the vice-chair and president of Microsoft, made his appearance at the company's French headquarters with Macron.
Mr Smith said: "We will build out the computing capacity here in France. We will put this infrastructure to work for everyone in France." The tech giant's ambitious plan includes bolstering next-generation Cloud and AI infrastructure and ferrying up to 25,000 top-notch GPUs or graphics processing units, to France before year-end 2025.
Additionally, Microsoft will launch an AI skilling initiative to train 1 million French people by the end of 2027, emphasizing the importance of equipping citizens with future-ready skills. The announcement was part of this year's annual Choose France summit, established by Macron in 2018.
The event took place at the Palace of Versailles, attended by 180 international chief executives and high-ranking business magnates. It showcased foreign investments totalling €15billion, surpassing last year's €13billion accomplished through 28 projects.
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President Macron emphasised the importance of pushing forward with AI technology in Europe during his visit to Microsoft, saying: "We are entering a totally different world where the competition will be ferocious, and we can only win this competition if we have trusted partners, and you are among them."
This significant investment underscores Microsoft’s commitment to supporting French growth in the AI economy and marks a milestone in the ongoing efforts to enhance France’s position as a global leader in technology and innovation.