Macron’s G7 legacy hangs on fickle AI funding and data centers

French President Emmanuel Macron, with less than a year left in office, is betting on artificial intelligence to cement his legacy, leveraging France's nuclear energy to attract AI data centers and securing a €75 billion investment from SoftBank Group for French projects.

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.