UAE to invest up to €50 billion in France's largest AI data centre

Privacy watchdog argues move is “draconian”

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is set to invest up to €50 billion in building a 1-gigawatt AI data centre in France, marking one of the largest investments of its kind in Europe.

This project, announced following a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan last week, aims to create an AI campus that will serve as a hub for advanced technologies and innovation.

The data centre is an offshoot of a broader Franco-Emirati framework agreement focused on artificial intelligence, which includes investments in advanced chips, talent development, and the establishment of virtual data embassies.

At a tech event on Thursday, France’s digital and AI minister Clara Chappaz, said the French government has already picked 35 potential sites for the facility with plans to fast-track administrative approvals.

The announcement comes at a time when Europe is striving to compete with tech powerhouses like the US and China. In recent months, there has been concern expressed about Europe and the UK falling behind both countries in the AI arms race.

The French digital and AI minister notes that this is just the beginning of many investment initiatives.

“Just the magnitude and the scale of these announcements show that this is just the beginning. This technology is our opportunity to catch up,” she said.

The project is said to be backed by a group of Franco-Emirati investors, including MGX, an Abu Dhabi investment firm with stakes in large-scale tech funding in companies like Elon Musk’s xAI, Databricks and OpenAI.

Whilst €50 billion is a huge sum, the France-UAE project is still a fraction of the United States’ proposed $500 billion Stargate AI investment plans.

This announcement also set the stage for the AI Action Summit in Paris which officially began today, and where world leaders including US Vice President J.D. Vance, China’s Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are expected to discuss AI investments, regulation and energy requirements.