Microsoft announces huge investment in France to speed up AI adoption
Microsoft will invest €4 billion, train 1 million and support 2,500 AI startups
30th May 2024
Microsoft has announced its largest ever investment in France, designed to accelerate the adoption of AI and boost the French economy.
Microsoft will expand its datacenter footprint across existing sites in Paris and Marseille and will also invest in planning a new datacenter campus in the Grand Est Region, in Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération.
“We are building state-of-the-art Cloud and AI infrastructure, training people with AI skills, and supporting French startups, as they use our technology with confidence to grow in a fair and responsible way.”
Vice Chair & President of Microsoft Brad Smith
These investments will help to meet the growing demand for efficient AI specific compute power and will make services like Microsoft 365 more locally accessible to French customers.
Drive skills for 1 million by 2027
Microsoft plans to upskill 1 million people and especially job seekers, students and SMBs with training programs focused on building AI fluency and developing AI technical skills.
This is particularly interesting, given recent research from PwC on AI-based productivity and recruitment trends, finding that jobs that require AI specialist skills ‘carry up to a 25% wage premium’.
These findings highlight the incredible advantage those with advanced AI skills have in recruitment, to get the highest paying jobs. Therefore, improving AI skills in communities, as Microsoft is doing, will be valuable to those who take advantage of the opportunity.
Accelerate 2,500 French startups with AI
Microsoft will also further support French startups and the ambition to develop more high growth AI businesses in the country.
Its goal is to engage over 2,500 startups by 2027 through its newly released program: Microsoft GenAI Studio, and via technical workshops and technical access to AI experts at Microsoft.
This will undoubtedly be of huge interest to startups who qualify, providing them with valuable support at the early and critical stages of business growth.
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