Iliad to invest $3.1 billion to boost AI infrastructure in Europe

(Reuters) – French telecoms group Iliad said on Friday it would invest 3 billion euros ($3.10 billion) in AI infrastructure, such as datacentres and computing power.

Ahead of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit taking place in Paris on Monday, the group said it will invest via its subsidiary OpCore, which operates the group’s 13 data centres.

“In the short term, OpCore will deploy several hundred megawatts of capacity. Our long-term ambition is to build several gigawatts of capacity across Europe,” Iliad said in a statement.

Iliad also said it partnered with Mistral AI in France, to bring the firm’s “le Chat pro” AI model to Iliad’s 15.5 million French subscribers.

Europe has lagged American and Chinese peers in the race to develop AI, with U.S. President Donald Trump’s Stargate initiative planning to invest up to $500 billion over the next five years.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Friday called on Europeans to adopt AI and signaled a willingness to bring a Stargate-like program to Europe.

($1 = 0.9685 euros)

(Reporting by Nathan Vifflin; Editing by Peter Graff and Sharon Singleton)