MGX & Bpifrance back 1.4GW Paris AI Campus project
Europe's biggest AI campus announced at Choose France Summit 2025
#France #datacentres – Abu Dhabi’s global technology investment company MGX has partnered with French national investment bank Bpifrance, Paris-based generative AI company Mistral AI, and US AI infrastructure leader NVIDIA to create what could be Europe’s largest AI campus. Unveiled at the Choose France Summit, aims to build an open, sovereign AI hub with 1.4 GW compute capacity in the Paris region. The facility will support the full AI lifecycle and target applications in healthcare, mobility, energy, and more. Construction is expected to begin in 2026, with operations starting by 2028.
SO WHAT? – The new project represents one of Europe’s most significant AI infrastructure investments to date, and one of three massive AI compute projects announced this year with investment from Abu Dhabi. In addition to the 1.4GW Paris AI hub backed by MGX, Abu Dhabi AI group G42 announced a strategic investment in a new giga-scale AI data centre being built in Grenoble during February, plus a €1 billion partnership to build an AI compute cluster in Italy announced last week.
Here are some key details about the Paris AI hub deal:
Abu Dhabi’s global technology investment fund MGX has partnered with French investment bank Bpifrance to build a Paris AI Campus with 1.4GW of AI data centre capacity, supported by French AI pioneer Mistral AI, and US AI infrastructure leader NVIDIA.
Located in the Paris region, the Campus will be purpose-built to host AI research, model training, and real-world deployment across key sectors.
The AI data centre will support exascale-class computing, sovereign cloud integration, and have a low-carbon footprint.
The AI Campus was announced during the Choose France Summit and follows broader UAE–France AI cooperation agreements announced in early 2025.
It will operate as an open platform serving startups, industry, academia, and public institutions with a full AI lifecycle offering.
Other confirmed partners include:
EDF Group (energy), Bouygues (construction), Ecole Polytechnique (academia), RTE (electricity transmission), and Sipartech (connectivity).
Ecole Polytechnique will fund new PhDs and research programmes in AI, in partnership with Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in the UAE.
Sipartech will provide high-capacity fibre links to digital hubs, supporting fast and secure data access for AI workloads.
Construction of the AI Campus is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2026, with full operations expected by 2028.
The initiative supports Europe’s goals of digital sovereignty, climate leadership, and long-term competitiveness in artificial intelligence.
ZOOM OUT – The Paris AI Campus is the first major project announced under the UAE–France Framework for Cooperation in Artificial Intelligence, signed in February 2025 by Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The agreement outlines a shared vision to invest €30–50 billion in AI infrastructure, research, and talent. It also includes plans for sovereign cloud infrastructure, Virtual Data Embassies, and advanced chip acquisition. The MGX-led campus marks the beginning of this strategic alliance, positioning France as a leading European AI hub and reinforcing the UAE’s global AI ambitions through long-term, bilateral cooperation.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
Read more about UAE investment in France:
G42 & AMD to power AI data centre innovation in France (Middle East AI News)
France, UAE deal to build 1 Gigawatt AI data centre (Middle East AI News)