Macron: Europe lagging behind China, US in AI development race

French President Emmanuel Macron says Europe is lagging behind in the artificial intelligence (AI) race and must act quickly to catch up with the US and China.

In an interview with CNN, Macron said the continent is “not in the race today”, adding that decisive action is needed to bridge the gap.

“We are not in the race today, we are lagging behind,” he said.

“We need an AI agenda because we have to bridge the gap with the United States and China on AI.”

Macron identified funding and computing power as major challenges.

He said Europe controls only three to five percent of the world’s computing capacity, adding that he believes this needs to increase to at least 20 percent.

His comments come ahead of the Paris AI Summit, which kicks off on Monday and runs through Tuesday.

The event will bring together tech leaders from around the world to discuss AI innovation, investment, and regulation.

According to an exclusive report by French publication TF1, Macron disclosed that France will announce €109 billion in AI investments during the summit’s opening session.

The funding includes €20 billion from Brookfield — the Canadian investment firm — for AI projects in France, with up to €50 billion expected from the UAE in the coming years.

The president’s push for AI innovation comes at a time when China’s DeepSeek has shaken the global tech industry and stock markets with its latest breakthroughs.

The US has unveiled its $500 billion Stargate project, aimed at expanding data centres and strengthening its AI dominance.

France is also making its mark in AI with Mistral AI, a Paris-based startup specialising in open-weight large language models (LLMs). The company officially launched on February 6, 2025.