Since 2023, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been advocating for the concept of sovereign AI — the idea that each nation should build and control its own artificial intelligence systems, tailored to its unique language, culture, and values. Now, that vision is beginning to resonate across Europe.
During a recent tour through London, Paris, and Berlin, Huang announced a series of new initiatives and collaborations aimed at boosting AI capabilities across the continent. His message was clear: Europe urgently needs to invest in its own AI infrastructure or risk falling further behind global competitors.
“We’re going to invest billions here,” Huang said in Paris. “But Europe must move quickly into AI.”
Leaders Respond to the Call
European leaders are starting to heed the call. In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer unveiled a £1 billion ($1.35 billion) plan to scale up the country’s computing power, emphasizing the importance of becoming “an AI maker, not an AI taker.”
French President Emmanuel Macron echoed this urgency at the VivaTech conference in Paris, calling AI infrastructure “our fight for sovereignty.” Meanwhile, in Germany, following Nvidia’s announcement of a new AI cloud platform in partnership with Deutsche Telekom, Chancellor Friedrich Merz stressed the need for digital sovereignty to secure the country’s economic future.
Europe’s AI infrastructure currently lags behind that of the U.S. and China, dominated by major American cloud providers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. The continent has only a handful of significant homegrown players, including French startup Mistral.
“There’s no reason Europe can’t have its own tech champions,” said Mistral’s 31-year-old CEO Arthur Mensch, who joined Huang on stage at VivaTech. “This is a gigantic dream.”
Gigafactories and Strategic Partnerships
To help realize that dream, Mistral and Nvidia are teaming up to build a powerful AI data center in France, designed to serve European companies with a locally developed alternative. The first phase will deploy 18,000 of Nvidia’s latest AI chips, with plans for further expansion by 2026.
Earlier this year, the European Union announced a $20 billion plan to establish four AI “gigafactories” aimed at reducing dependence on U.S. technology. According to an EU official, Nvidia has committed to allocating chip production for these European facilities, reinforcing its presence in the region.
Nvidia’s GPUs — essential for building advanced AI systems — are already in high demand worldwide, from the U.S. to India to the Middle East. With Europe now pushing for sovereign AI, Nvidia stands to benefit from new public investments while positioning itself as a key enabler of national AI autonomy.
Challenges Ahead
Despite the momentum, significant obstacles remain — chief among them, energy consumption. Data centers already account for 3% of the EU’s electricity use, and that number is expected to climb rapidly with the expansion of AI. Securing sufficient and sustainable power will be critical for the success of these new facilities.
Meanwhile, Mistral is striving to become a leading European AI company, having raised just over $1 billion — a modest sum compared to the vast resources available to U.S.-based hyperscalers and infrastructure giants.
Still, the message from Nvidia and its partners is clear: Europe must act boldly, and soon, if it wants to shape its own AI destiny — and avoid being left behind in the global AI race.
We have helped 20+ companies in industries like Finance, Transportation, Health, Tourism, Events, Education, Sports.
