Newshot 马克龙宣布 to convene tech company meeting in Paris on December 2 to advance European tech sovereignty
IT之家 November 14 news, according to a report by CCTV News today, French President 埃马纽埃尔 · 马克龙宣布 will convene a meeting of tech company leaders in Paris on December 2 together with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten (Rob Jetten), to push European governments and the tech industry to strengthen cooperation and enhance Europe's technological sovereignty.
According to a report by the UK's The Guardian, 马克龙 made the remarks after attending an informal meeting of EU leaders in Dublin, the capital of Ireland. He also posted on X, stressing that "our independence cannot be outsourced; it must be built here in Europe."
One of the key topics of the informal EU leaders' meeting was artificial intelligence. EU leaders and figures including Arthur Mensch (Arthur Mensch), CEO of French AI company Mistral AI, discussed the development of Europe's AI industry and how to enhance Europe's competitiveness in the global AI field.
The list of conditions 马克龙 laid out for European AI companies was quite specific: the computing power needed to train models, the capital to support growth, and the customers needed to deploy models.
马克龙 said Europe has the talent, energy and technological foundation needed to compete in artificial intelligence, and that what is needed next is more investment, faster decision-making, and especially stronger coordinated action among European countries.
He said: "If we want companies to grow here, we should let them get their first major contracts here." In 马克龙's view, Europe does not lack the basic conditions to compete — talent, energy and technology are all in place; what is lacking is the scale of investment and the speed of decision-making, and "we must invest more, decide faster, and above all act together."
In addition, European Commission President 冯德莱恩 said at the meeting that Europe needs at least 500 billion euros (IT之家 note: about 3.7 trillion yuan at current exchange rates) in investment to advance the broader goal of technological sovereignty, and that she plans to present a financing plan at the next meeting. 冯德莱恩 also disclosed that the EU plans to build 7 AI gigafactories, expected to mobilize about 30 billion euros for developing the computing infrastructure that supports AI models.
马克龙 also stressed in particular that even if European companies develop competitive AI models, they must be able to obtain in Europe the computing power needed to train models, the capital to support corporate development, and the customers needed to deploy models. He said that if Europe wants its homegrown tech companies to grow, it should enable them to secure their first major contracts in the European market.
The partnership between 马克龙 and Jetten is not improvised. France and the Netherlands had previously expressed their intention to deepen cooperation in semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum technology, and the investment relationship between ASML and French AI company Mistral AI is also regarded by both sides as one of the pillars of Franco-Dutch tech cooperation. Mistral AI co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch spoke to EU leaders in Dublin that day, and Paris is precisely where Mistral is headquartered.
The meeting summary published by the European Council shows that EU leaders focused that day on how to expand public and private investment, improve AI infrastructure, strengthen Europe's AI capabilities, and reduce critical dependence on external technology suppliers.
The meeting also discussed clean energy supply, the application of artificial intelligence in European enterprises and the public sector, and the impact of artificial intelligence on employment, social security and fundamental rights.
The Paris meeting will further advance cooperation between European governments and tech companies. 马克龙 hopes to provide development conditions for European AI companies through investment, computing infrastructure, capital support and government procurement, and to reduce Europe's dependence on external suppliers in key technology areas.
The EU had previously made enhancing AI sovereignty an important strategic topic. The Dublin meeting was the first time EU leaders held an in-depth strategic discussion devoted specifically to artificial intelligence, with European technological sovereignty and the competitiveness of the AI industry becoming key topics.
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