With less than a year left in office, Emmanuel Macron wants to be remembered as the French president who put Europe back in the technology race.
His decade-old ambition to turn France into a “startup nation” never fully delivered. Now Macron sees a second chance by positioning France as Europe’s artificial intelligence powerhouse, leveraging the nation’s abundant supply of nuclear energy for data centers. He convinced SoftBank Group to invest as much as €75 billion ($87 billion) in French projects.
His advisers have dubbed the AI effort “Project Marengo,” a reference to Napoleon Bonaparte’s victory over an Austrian army in 1800 at the battle of the same name, won through speed and decisive action. Marengo was also a political victory, securing Bonaparte’s hold on power.