Europe talks a lot about tech sovereignty, but has so far done little. Now France is taking the bull by the horns, with plans to build the continent’s biggest data centre. It is understandable to fear being beholden to the US for all things AI, but it’s not clear jumping on the infrastructure bandwagon is the best way forward.
The French plans are undoubtedly grand. At 5.1 gigawatts of power, the new facility would be a whisker above Meta Platforms’ proposed Hyperion campus in Louisiana and half the size of another upcoming mega campus in Ohio.
But real sovereignty is a pipe dream. The project is backed by Japanese money; tech group SoftBank is pledging €75bn. Given the total spending required for every 1GW of AI power is reckoned to be about $50bn-$60bn, that will need to be supplemented with another €170bn — at least. It is unlikely European investors will spring for the whole caboodle.