Microsoft says it is investing $4.3 billion in tech projects in France.
The spending package will focus on cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, “AI skills, and French tech acceleration,” the company announced on Monday (May 13), aiming to train 1 million people and To support 2,500 AI startups by 2027
The news marks Microsoft's largest investment in France in the tech giant's 41-year history of doing business in the country.
It was announced as part of the annual “Choose France” summit, which aims to make the country a financial hub for Europe. This year will see more than $14 billion in investments from global enterprises, including a $1.29 billion AI-focused program from Amazon.
This major investment demonstrates an unwavering commitment to support digital innovation and economic growth in France,” Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith said in the announcement.
“We're building cutting-edge cloud and AI infrastructure, training people with AI skills, and supporting French startups as they confidently develop our technology in a fair and responsible way. use.”
The project will see Microsoft expand its data center footprint at existing sites in the Paris and Marseille regions, while also investing in a new data center campus in France's Grand Est region.
The investment comes as Microsoft works to stay ahead of the AI race against fellow tech giants such as Amazon, Meta and Google, tech analyst Václav Vincalek said in an interview with PYMNTS last week as the company announced in Wisconsin. announced a $3.3 billion data hub.
“It seems like 'big' AI announcements are released every week and most are just news fodder,” Vincalek told PYMNTS.
“$3.3 billion isn't a small amount, but it's just a number right now. The same thing when Google announced its multi-billion AI investment two weeks ago. Big corporations want to be seen as AI companies, but I per I will not be banking on any one company at the moment until we see tangible results that positively impact business operations.”
Assuming the AI infrastructure matures, he said, companies will gain access to more advanced AI capabilities.
“For example, more sophisticated machine learning algorithms can help analyze larger and larger datasets in shorter time frames,” Wincalek said. “Or improvements in natural language processing to actually serve consumers better with AI.”
In addition to its announced investment, Microsoft is also reportedly working on an in-house AI model that will be larger than the already trained open source models.