Europe’s Largest AI Hub to Come in France
Bpifrance, the French national investment bank, and MGX, the UAE investment fund focused on AI and advanced technology, together with generative AI leader Mistral AI, and world leader in AI computing infrastructure NVIDIA, have announced the formation of a joint venture (JV) to establish Europe’s largest AI Campus, which will be located in the Paris region and is expected to ultimately reach a capacity of 1.4 GW.
The announcement was made at French President Emmanuel Macron’s Choose France Summit being held in Versailles in Frane. The construction of the project is expected to begin in the second half of 2026, with operations launching by 2028.
This initiative builds on broader AI cooperation agreements supported by UAE President H H Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Emmanuel Macron at the AI Action Summit in February 2025. Located in Europe’s leading economic zone, the AI Campus marks a major step toward establishing sovereign, sustainable, and globally competitive AI infrastructure across the continent.
The JV signing ceremony was witnessed by Eric Lombard, French Minister of Economy, Finance, and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, and Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority and member of the AI and Advanced Technology Council.
Together, the partners will develop Europe’s first purpose-built intelligence hub supporting the full AI lifecycle, from model training and inference to deployment of generative and applied AI systems. Strategically located to integrate with France’s research and innovation ecosystems, the Campus will feature advanced compute infrastructure, facilities for experimentation, and real-world development environments.
The open platform will include exascale-class computing, sovereign cloud integration, and low-carbon hyperscale data centres optimised for AI. It will support large-scale AI adoption in fields such as healthcare, mobility, energy, finance, and manufacturing, while advancing Europe’s digital and climate sovereignty.
France Is Global AI leader
Bpifrance CEO Nicolas Dufourcq said that this initiative highlights France’s scientific excellence, capacity to deliver cutting-edge infrastructure, and its attractiveness to top talent. The Campus strengthens their bank’s technological sovereignty and reinforces France’s position as a global AI leader.
MGX CEO and Managing Director Ahmed Yahia said that France has the ambition and capability to lead in this new AI era and MGX sees AI as the most transformative force of their time, and believe open, enduring infrastructure is key to unlocking its broad societal impact.
The France AI Campus will accelerate breakthroughs across science, education, public services, and business, fueling Europe’s next wave of innovation, Yahia added.
Mistral AI Co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch said that CampusAI marks a pivotal step in reinforcing France’s position as a global leader in AI. By uniting top-tier expertise and cutting-edge solutions across the entire AI value chain, this initiative aims to foster sustainable AI ecosystems and create tangible benefits for companies, public institutions, and academic players.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said that the AI Campus will be a transformational infrastructure for France – built in France, to fuel France in the era of AI. It will revolutionize science, education, and industry.
Laura Chaubard, Director General of Ecole Polytechnique, said that as a French leading academic and research institution, École Polytechnique is proud to contribute to the AI Campus by advancing cutting-edge research and training the next generation of AI leaders.
This partnership reflects our shared commitment to fostering international collaboration and strengthening Europe’s capacity for sovereign, responsible, and high-impact AI innovation, Laura added.
The Campus will be supported by a strong ecosystem of public and private partners from government, technology, industry, and academia. Confirmed partners include Bouygues, a French leader in construction, energies and telecommunications, renowned for its expertise in innovative and complex projects in over 80 countries, EDF Group, the world leader in low-carbon energy and a key player in energy transition, Ecole Polytechnique, member of Institut Polytechnique de Paris and a top-tier academic and research institution in science, engineering, and artificial intelligence, RTE, France’s national electricity transmission operator, which has recently developed a dedicated approach to accelerate the connection of large consumers on pre-qualified sites and Sipartech, the French provider of high-capacity fiber infrastructure across Europe.
