Global investment firm Brookfield Asset Management BAM-T on Monday confirmed it will invest €20-billion ($29.6-billion) to develop artificial intelligence related projects in France.
On Sunday, President Emmanuel Macron said France will announce private sector investments totalling about €109-billion euros in its artificial intelligence sector during the Paris AI summit that opened on Monday.
The financing includes plans by Brookfield’s investment and financing from the United Arab Emirates, which could hit €50-billion in the years ahead, Macron’s office said.
The Élysée Palace said the UAE investment would include financing for a one gigawatt data centre. The La Tribune de Dimanche newspaper reported that the bulk of Brookfield’s investment would go toward a data centre.
AI requires huge amounts of energy to power massive data centres, with Europe seen struggling to meet future demand.
Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that OpenAI, SoftBank Group and Oracle would invest US$500-billion in AI infrastructure over the next four years to help the United States stay ahead of China and other rivals in the global AI race.