France makes high-profile push to be the A.I. hub of Europe setting up challenge to U.S., China
French President Emmanuel Macron attended the country’s premier technology event Viva Tech. Macron told CNBC France will “invest like crazy” into A.I.
Nathan Laine | Bloomberg | Getty Images
PARIS — France is making a major push to position itself as Europe’s hub for artificial intelligence, throwing its weight behind the fast-growing and much-hyped technology.
“I think we are number one [in AI] in continental Europe, and we have to accelerate,” French President Emmanuel Macron told CNBC’s Karen Tso last week.
Countries are looking to position themselves as AI hubs, because the technology is seen as revolutionary and therefore of strategic importance to governments around the world. AI is viewed as impacting industries from finance to healthcare, but has also been caught in the middle of the broader technology battle playing out between China and the U.S.
Hype around AI has been partly sparked by the viral nature of U.S. firm OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot.
AI was the phrase on everyone’s lips at France’s annual technology conference Viva Tech, from startups to established technology firms, along with companies from industries as diverse as cosmetics and banking.
Macron, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and Digital Minister Jean-Noel Barrot attended the event, adding the government’s backing to France’s tech push.
“We will invest like crazy on training and research,” Macron told CNBC, adding that France is well-positioned in AI due to its access to talent and start-ups forming around the technology.
While the U.S is seen as the leader in AI by many measures, France hopes to catch up.
“Believe me this is clear that the U.S. is number one, for good reason because it is a huge domestic market … I want us to clearly bridge the gap and invest much more, develop much more and accelerate much more,” Macron said.
Paris’ ambitions face tough competition even within the European Union.
“France definitely has a chance to be the leader in Europe, but it faces stiff competition from Germany and the U.K.,” Anton Dahbura, Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy, told CNBC via email.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in the past week made his pitch for Britain to become a global AI center.
Dahbura said that, for France to find success, it will need to “use AI to build on the economic areas it’s already strong in,” such as manufacturing and pharmaceutical.
“It’s a key time to be strategic to identify specific areas of distinct competency and invest heavily in AI to build an edge,” Dahbura said.
French A.I. companies in focus
U.S. companies currently dominate the conversation around AI, with names such as Microsoft — which invested in OpenAI — and chipmaker Nvidia staying top of mind.
France doesn’t have an AI giant like the U.S., but wants to create two or three “big global players” in the technology, according to Macron.
it is banking on its startups to grow quickly. Underscoring the potential and hype of AI developments, four-week-old French startup Mistral AI raised 105 million euros to fund the company. A number of other local startups were showing off their wares at Viva Tech.
Global A.I. regulation in focus
Part of France’s pitch to be an A.I. hub leads on regulation around the technology.
The European Parliament greenlit the EU AI Act, a wide-sweeping first-of-its-kind regulation on artificial intelligence. It is not yet law, but, if passed, would bring a risk-based approach to regulation across the EU.
France has typically been seen as a proponent of strong regulation on technology — but it has taken issue with parts of the EU AI Act related to generative AI, the type of technology that underpins OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which it sees as too stringent.
“My worry is that in the recent past few weeks, the EU Parliament … has taken a very sort of strong stance on AI regulation, using, in some sense, this AI act as a way to try and solve too many problems at once,” Barrot, France’s digital minister, said on the provisions around generative AI.
France desires a global regulation on A.I., which it hopes to achieve through the G7 group that includes the U.S. and Britain, as well as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
“From my point of view … I think we do need a regulation and all the players, even the U.S. players, agree with that. I think we need a global regulation,” Macron said.
U.S. seen as frenemy
France sees the U.S. as both a rival and an ally. French and European companies will try to compete with U.S. giants like Microsoft and Google, but Washington’s by-in is required for any kind of global regulation .
“Competition is always a good thing. So we have a very close cooperation with the U.S., but we also want to get access to our own AI intelligence and companies. So I think that having a fair competition between the U.S. and Europe and also a co-operation on some key devices is good for the U.S. and good for Europe,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, told CNBC.
“On regulation as well, I think this is absolutely vital to have an in-depth discussion with the American authorities on the best way of regulating artificial intelligence.”
Michael Intrator, co-founder and CEO of CoreWeave, speaks at the Semafor World Economy Summit during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring meetings in Washington on April 25, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Bloomberg | Getty Images
CoreWeave, a provider of infrastructure for artificial intelligence companies, reported better-than-expected third-quarter revenue on Monday, but the company delivered disappointing full-year guidance. The stock dropped 6% in extended trading.
Here’s how the company did in comparison with LSEG consensus:
- Earnings: Loss of 22 cents per share
- Revenue: $1.36 billion vs. $1.29 billion expected
Revenue in the quarter soared 134% from $583.9 million a year ago, according to a statement. The company reported a net loss of $110 million, narrowing from about $360 million in the same quarter last year.
CoreWeave’s growth is tied directly to the AI boom, as the company rents out Nvidia graphics processing units and has won business from leading cloud infrastructure providers, including Google and Microsoft. The company’s backlog now stands at $55.6 billion, with 2.9 gigawatts in contracted power, up from 2.2 gigawatts on June 30, according to the statement.
However, CoreWeave now sees 2025 revenue coming in between $5.05 billion and $5.15 billion, trailing the average analyst estimate of $5.29 billion, according to LSEG.
A third-party data center developer is behind schedule, CEO Mike Intrator said on the company’s earnings call. But he added that the delay won’t affect CoreWeave’s backlog.
“There was a problem at one data center that’s impacting us, but there are 32 data centers in our portfolio,” Intrator said.
During the quarter, CoreWeave announced a $6.5 billion expansion of its business with OpenAI and a six-year deal with Meta worth up to $14.2 billion. CoreWeave also received its sixth contract from “a leading hyperscaler.”
The company remains supply-constrained, Intrator said. The shortage is not in power but instead has to do with the availability of partly completed “powered-shell” data centers in which CoreWeave can set up its own equipment, he said.
Meanwhile, CoreWeave is building its own data center infrastructure from the ground up in Pennsylvania, he said.
“The overwhelming majority of the delay that you’re seeing should be taken care of within Q1 of next year.” Intrator said.
CoreWeave went public on the Nasdaq in March, selling shares at $40 each. On Monday the stock closed at $105.61, representing a 164% return. The Nasdaq has gained 32% over a similar period. CoreWeave shares slipped in extended trading on Monday.
Less than four months after its IPO, CoreWeave announced its intent to acquire data center infrastructure operator Core Scientific for $9 billion, but Core Scientific shareholders voted against the proposed deal.
CoreWeave’s 2026 capital expenditures should be “well in excess of double” the total for 2025, which will end up between $12 billion and $14 billion, said Nitin Agrawal, the company’s finance chief.
WATCH: Cramer’s Mad Dash: CoreWeave
A Waymo autonomous self-driving Jaguar electric vehicle sits parked at an EVgo charging station in Los Angeles, California, on May 15, 2024.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Waymo has tapped Google executive Steve Fieler as its new chief financial officer, the self-driving company announced on Monday.
The new CFO comes as the Alphabet-owned company has been bringing its robotaxi service to more markets in the past year, with plans for further expansion in 2026. Fieler’s appointment also comes as Waymo looks toward its next phase, which could include seeking additional outside investment.
“Steve’s extensive experience will be instrumental in guiding us through this next chapter,” Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said in a LinkedIn post.
Mawakana also thanked previous Waymo finance chief Elisa de Martel for serving in the role since her appointment in 2022. Waymo declined to elaborate on de Martel, and de Martel did not respond to a request for comment.
“We’re wishing her the best as she embarks on her next chapter,” Mawakana wrote.
Fieler was a key member of Google’s CFO leadership team, where he served as vice president of planning, investments and investor relations, according to Waymo. Prior to that, Fieler worked as business finance officer for Google’s “Platforms and Ecosystems” unit, responsible for products including Android and Chrome.
Prior to Google, Fieler served as finance chief at HP. He’s also held various positions at various early-stage companies and at General Electric, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Alphabet’s segment “Other Bets,” which includes the Waymo unit, reported revenue of $344 million during the third quarter, down from $388 million the year prior. Losses also grew from $1.12 billion last year in the third quarter to $1.43 billion in the same period this year.
Waymo now offers a commercial service in the Los Angeles area, Phoenix, San Francisco, Atlanta and Austin. The company has also announced plans to start robotaxi services in Miami and Washington, D.C., in 2026, and Waymo said in August that it obtained permits to begin testing its autonomous vehicles with trained safety drivers in New York City.
WATCH: Exclusive: Amazon just launched its Zoox robotaxis in Las Vegas and we took a ride
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