A fund from the United Arab Emirates is planning to spend between €30 billion and €50 billion ($31.2 billion and $52 billion) on a new campus for data centers in France, according to French officials.
The investment is part of a bilateral announcement made ahead of an artificial intelligence summit French president Emmanuel Macron is holding next week. France and the UAE signed a strategic partnership to promote cooperation on AI last May.
In a joint statement on Friday, the countries said they would aim to build a facility dedicated to AI with one gigawatt of capacity. The statement said the first tranche of investment will be announced during Macron’s flagship investment event later this year, and come from a consortium of French and Emirati companies.
But initial financing for the site will come from Abu Dhabi’s MGX fund, according to officials in Macron’s office. They did not provide further details.
MGX, a $100 billion investment vehicle, is also involved in Project Stargate, the ambitious effort from SoftBank Group Corp. and OpenAI to spend $500 billion on data centers in the US. That initiative is aiming to construct around a dozen facilities with a gigawatt capacity each, Bloomberg News reported earlier.
Data centers and AI have been the centerpiece of the UAE’s strategy to diversify its economy and extend its political influence. In January, a Dubai billionaire pledged to spend $20 billion on data centers in the US. G42, an Abu Dhabi tech conglomerate, has announced major computing projects across the Middle East and Africa.
In 2021, the oil-rich Emirates agreed to buy 80 Rafale fighter jets from France as part of a €17 billion deal signed during Macron’s visit to the UAE. The nations have also discussed the possibility of investing in the nuclear industry. Last year, they worked together on a call for ceasefire at the Israel-Lebanon border.
Macron hosted Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE leader,for a dinner on Thursday about AI.
The French president has made his nation’s ambitions in the field a priority. While a few French startups, such as Mistral, have raised sizable amounts relative to European peers, they have struggled to compete with rivals from the US and China.
Source: rigzone