PARIS, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday outlined France's strengths to attract professionals and investment from the world for artificial intelligence (AI) development in Europe.
Speaking on the first day of the AI Action Summit in Paris, Macron reaffirmed that France would receive an investment of 109 billion euros (113 billion U.S. dollars) in AI-related initiatives in the coming years.
According to an interview with public television channel France 2 on Sunday, Macron said the fund will come from the United Arab Emirates, major American and Canadian investment funds, as well as French companies.
Comparing the investment to the U.S. "Stargate" plan, he told the participants of the AI summit: "We want to accelerate and leverage on this key element."
First, he emphasized France's strong tradition in education and training, noting that the country currently trains about 40,000 AI-specialized data scientists annually, and the number would rise to 100,000 per year with the investment announced during the summit.
Macron also highlighted France's efforts to build data centers, pointing out a demand for semiconductors. "We start to accelerate the program," he said, referring to the European Chips Act that aims to unlock 43 billion euros of investment and allow the European Union to produce 20 percent of the world's chips by 2030.
France and Europe will strengthen partnerships with American and Asian companies to increase semiconductor manufacturing, he added.
Macron further emphasized France's "unique" advantage in space and energy sector for AI development, particularly concerning data centers. He said that France has 35 available sites for data centers, and support from low-carbon controllable energies such as nuclear energy.
"There is no need to drill. It's just plug, baby, plug," Macron said, imitating Trump's "drill, baby, drill" slogan.
To further boost AI development, the French president pledged to cut down bureaucratic hurdles related to transmission, permitting, authorization, etc.
Macron first introduced France's AI strategy in 2018. The ongoing AI summit is viewed as an opportunity for France to lead Europe in the highly intense AI competition around the world. According to French media's analysis, AI application, for Macron, represents a way to revitalize French industries, boosting competitiveness and productivity, fostering new sectors, and reshaping work organization. ■
