France has received billions of investments from global tech companies including Microsoft and Amazon, and drug companies including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Novartis and GSK amounting to about 13 billion euros at the “Choose France ” summit held at Versailles Palace.
As part of the investment plan, Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, said in a statement that the new office from Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley, dubbed as its new European campus, would also create 100 more jobs in the country.
Along with fellow US behemoth Amazon, Microsoft announced that it would invest four billion euros in the development of data centres in France.
According to Microsoft President Brad Smith, the company has made its largest investment in France since its debut forty-one years ago with this move to fortify its cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
France’s “longstanding commitment to carbon-free energy markets” and its status as a “critical leader” in Europe explained the decision, Smith said.
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, will also invest more than 1.2 billion euros in France, generating over 3,000 jobs, the office of French President Emmanuel Macron announced earlier on Sunday.
According to a release, the funds will be used to develop the logistical infrastructure of Amazon Web Services (AWS) parcel delivery service as well as the cloud architecture, primarily generative artificial intelligence.
Other investors include drug companies like Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Novartis and GSK who announced investments together worth over $1 billion.
Notable investors at the event include Skeleton Technologies, a high-power energy storage company based in Estonia, and Spanish fertiliser company, FertigHy.
Hunan Changyuan Lico in China, Enchem in South Korea, and KL1 in Switzerland are scheduled to invest a combined sum of about one billion euros in the production of battery materials or components.
Newsng understands that with a record 15 billion euros ($16.17 billion) in foreign investment commitments, President Emmanuel Macron of France would be able to temporarily put aside concerns about stretched public finances and poor polls and to focus on the AI, manufacturing and other sectors worth investing in.
We earlier reported that days after rival Microsoft unveiled major investments in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced that to expand its cloud infrastructure and services in Singapore, it will invest an extra 12 billion Singapore dollars, or around $8.87 billion, over the next five years.