Nvidia trumpets European AI infrastructure push

WASHINGTON: US chip giant Nvidia on Wednesday announced a broad infrastructure push into Europe, partnering with local companies to help build the continent’s “own ecosystem” for AI, chief executive Jensen Huang said in Paris.

“In just two years we will increase the amount of AI computing capacity in Europe by a factor of 10,” Huang told attendees at the French capital’s annual Vivatech trade fair, striding around the stage wearing his trademark leather jacket.

California-based Nvidia is by far the largest producer of chips for AI — notably the Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) originally developed for high-end gaming.

Nvidia’s chips have proved uniquely suited for generative AI, whether powering robots, software or self-driving cars.

Singling out a local firm, Huang said Nvidia would partner with French AI startup Mistral to build a cloud platform powered by 18,000 of Nvidia’s latest high-end Blackwell chips.

Basing the billions of euros (dollars) worth of hardware in Europe would offer firms the “strategic autonomy they need”, Mistral chief Arthur Mensch told AFP, adding that the project would “strengthen European technological leadership”.

Uber to launch driverless taxis in London next year

Huang said that Nvidia would build up existing partnerships, such as with French electrical goods maker Schneider Electric, including on developing gigantic data centres dedicated to AI — which Nvidia calls “AI factories”.

It will also strengthen work with Germany’s Siemens on so-called “digital twins” simluating real-world environments, and on automating industrial processes.

Nvidia plans to feed its chips into data centres across Europe, including in Spain, Italy, Britain, Finland, Germany and Sweden.

The world’s government chiefs “all want to have AI factories, they all want AI to be part of their infrastructure,” Huang said.

He added that Nvidia was partnering with major companies to develop their own AI models more easily, such as French banking giant BNP or cosmetics heavyweight L’Oreal.

“I’m so happy that Europe is going all-in on AI,” he said.

Europe is well behind competitors like the United States and China in building up the computing power needed to power generative artificial intelligence.

The continent hosts “less than five percent of global computing power, whereas we consume 20 percent,” French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said in a press briefing ahead of the leader’s visit to Vivatech.

With its ability to sell into China still crimped by American export restrictions, Nvidia is on the hunt for growth opportunities elsewhere around the world.