European companies and governments have announced plans to pump hundreds of billions of euro into the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, in an attempt to catch up with the United States and China.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union’s (EU) executive arm would put money towards Cern-style research facilities, with supercomputers to train large AI models and technology.
In a speech at an AI summit in Paris, Dr von der Leyen announced the commission would be mobilising €50 billion in funding. Nearly half of this would be put towards the development of “AI gigafactories”, where start-ups and other companies could develop AI tech.
The funding will be on top of a further €150 billion in AI investment announced by a consortium of European companies and investors, whose members include Airbus, Spotify, French AI company Mistral, Philips and Siemens.
The funding drive is an attempt to foster European industry, to produce AI technology to rival software developed by US tech giants, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, or the new Chinese competitor DeepSeek.
French president Emmanuel Macron, who organised the summit, earlier said France would put more than €100 billion towards data centres and AI technology, some of which would come from private investment.
[ Rapid growth of AI poses ‘profound’ threat to privacyOpens in new window ]
Speaking on the second day of the summit, Dr von der Leyen said she wanted Europe to be a leader in AI.
“Too often I hear that Europe is late to the race, while the US and China have already gotten ahead. I disagree because the AI race is far from over,” she told the gathering of world leaders and tech executives.
The major European funding package would be the “largest public-private partnership in the world for the development of trustworthy AI,” she said.
The summit was attended by several EU heads of state and government, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, US vice-president JD Vance and many other leaders.
Are we at the beginning of Donald Trump’s global trade war?
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Vance said the new White House administration believed “excessive regulation” could kill off the AI sector as it was taking off.
“We need international regulatory regimes that foster the creation of AI technology rather than strangles it,” he said.
Mr Vance zeroed in on regulations introduced by the European Union at several points in his speech, such as the Digital Services Act that regulates large online platforms, and GDPR data protection rules.
The race to dominate AI was not going to be won by “hand wringing” over safety concerns, he said. “We need our European friends in particular to look to this new frontier with optimism rather than trepidation,” the US vice-president said.
Mr Vance hit out at new EU regulations governing harmful and illegal online content, which he said US tech companies were “forced” to deal with. Strict data protection rules in Europe had also left smaller firms paying “endless legal compliance costs,” to avoid incurring significant fines, he said.
“The Trump administration is troubled by reports that some foreign governments are considering tightening the screws on US tech companies with international footprints. America cannot and will not accept that and we think it is a terrible mistake not just for America, but for your own countries,” he said.
Speaking later, United Nations secretary general António Guterres said he was concerned at how powerful AI technology seemed to be held in the hands of a small few.
“While some companies and countries are racing head on with record investments, most developing nations find themselves left out in the cold ... This growing concentration of AI capabilities risks deepening divides,” he said.
- Sign up for the here newsletter and get the latest business news and commentary in your inbox every weekday morning
- Opt in to Business push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Our Inside Business podcast is published weekly – Find the latest episode here
