Microsoft to Invest €4 Billion in French Cloud and AI Services

(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. plans to spend €4 billion ($4.3 billion) building cloud and AI infrastructure in France, announcing its latest major outlay on artificial intelligence technology.

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The US firm aims to help train a million people and support 2,500 startups by 2027 in the European country, it said in a statement. Earlier this year, Microsoft unveiled a partnership and €15 million investment into Mistral AI, a Parisian startup competing with OpenAI.

France has made developing AI a key area of focus, with national funds and local billionaires backing Mistral and Kyutai, an AI research nonprofit, which both formed last year. Microsoft’s announcement is part of President Emmanuel Macron’s “Choose France” summit, which aims to attract foreign companies and make France a financial hub for the European Union. Another US tech giant, Amazon.com Inc. has committed to spending €1.2 billion on infrastructure and computing, and in all 56 projects across a range of industries will be announced as part of the event, the Elysee said.

Read More: Amazon, Morgan Stanley, Pfizer to Announce French Projects

Microsoft, meanwhile, is making splashy investments across the globe as the company accelerates spending on its Azure cloud and related AI tools. In February, Microsoft announced a similar €3.2 billion investment into Germany. In April, the company invested $1.5 billion into the Abu Dhabi AI firm G42.

Microsoft is also facing increasing antitrust scrutiny over its cloud business and its AI investments, including the more than $10 billion the company has placed into OpenAI.

(Updates with additional details on summit, Microsoft investments from third paragraph)

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