French Billionaire Xavier Niel Commits $210 Million Investment to Boost AI Innovation

Xavier Niel, founder, CEO, and major shareholder of telecom company Iliad, has unveiled an ambitious plan to invest up to $210 million (€200 million) into artificial intelligence initiatives.

Beyond his role as a telecommunications leader, Niel owns Station F, the renowned startup campus in Paris, bustling with hundreds of innovative startups. He is also the sole investor in Kima Ventures, a seed fund that supports around 100 startups each year. Among Iliad’s subsidiaries is Scaleway, a prominent European cloud service provider.

Niel’s strategy for AI investments will unfold in several key areas. First, Iliad has established a research center in Paris with an initial investment of $105 million (€100 million). This center aims to recruit researchers specializing in artificial intelligence while also providing grants to PhD students. The outcomes will likely include research publications, private spinouts, and partnerships between public and private sectors, with Niel taking on the role of chairman.

Additionally, Scaleway is enhancing its GPU offerings and AI cloud services. The company has acquired 1,016 Nvidia H100 GPUs, which are in high demand among AI leaders like Meta, OpenAI, and Stability AI. These advanced hardware components are not only rare but also come at a premium price. Iliad asserts that Scaleway is now the leading European cloud provider for GPU cloud computing capabilities. Currently, access to H100 resources is limited to a private beta, but Scaleway is set to collaborate with Nvidia to deploy a full range of Nvidia’s AI tools and frameworks.

In a further push for AI innovation, Scaleway is organizing a European AI conference at Station F, scheduled for November 17. The event aims to gather over 1,000 attendees, targeting engineers and researchers engaged in AI development.

Through these announcements, Niel is signaling a transformative shift in AI investment in Europe, especially as private sector investments in the U.S. and China intensify. He is eager to position himself at the forefront of this innovation wave. "When a tech revolution emerges, we want to be involved. The internet revolution started 25 years ago—and we were part of it. Now, with artificial intelligence, we are ensuring we are prepared as well,” Niel stated.

Niel also has stakes in Poolside, a burgeoning French AI company currently fundraising and planning a move to France, and Mistral AI, another French AI venture that recently secured $113 million in seed funding, which he supports.

These AI companies will require GPU resources and skilled researchers, highlighting Niel’s dual strategy to excel in the evolving tech landscape.