Billionaire Xavier Niel Invests €200 Million in French AI Push

Billionaire Xavier Niel is investing €200 million ($212 million) in artificial intelligence, split between a future research lab to be located in Paris, cloud supercomputing capabilities powered by Nvidia Corp. hardware, and funding for startups.

The effort aims to lure top French AI engineers — who left to work for big tech firms — back to their home country, where they can build AI products to rival the likes of OpenAI, Niel said in an interview.

The race for AI dominance has intensified geopolitical rivalries as countries seek to harness the technology’s potential for economic growth and influence. Policymakers ...