France is evolving in an international context marked by strong Sino-American news around AI (Stargate, Deepseek), and within a Europe that has yet to take hold of AI. Draghi reportto build a sovereign AI and avoid becoming a consumer market for foreign technologies.
Faced with these challenges, our country has major competitive levers at its disposal: innovative technology companies, a pool of cutting-edge skills in artificial intelligence and engineering, as well as largely decarbonized and available energy! These assets, and in particular the latter, need to be mobilized to establish a leading position in the development of a "green economy". Sovereign and sustainable AI.
Digital sovereignty under threat
Europe has fallen behind across the entire artificial intelligence value chain. From the design of models to critical infrastructures such as processors and datacenters, which remain in the hands of foreign players, mainly American and Chinese, reinforcing its economic and geopolitical vulnerability. This dependence poses a major risk: that of the capture of our strategic data, and the exit of our companies from strategic value chains, replaced by digital service providers who know how to value their data for them.
Decarbonized energy, a strategic asset for building a credible European alternative
Yet France has a major advantage: its ability to supply large quantities of affordable, low-carbon energy. For digital sovereignty cannot be dissociated from an energy challenge: supplying AI infrastructures with clean, competitive energy. Datacenters, the beating heart of artificial intelligence, require massive and constant energy power to operate.
While GAFAM are investing massively in datacenters coupled with modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), France has the means to structure an ambitious European response, with its lead in nuclear power and its expertise in AI.
With 95 % of low-carbon electricity in 2024, France benefits from an energy mix combining nuclear power and renewables, guaranteeing stable, affordable electricity. Its carbon intensity of 21.3 g CO2/kWh, one of the lowest in the world, reinforces its attractiveness for environmentally-friendly, competitive data centers. In 2024, France exported a net 89 TWh of electricity: a surplus that could be better used to support a sovereign IA ecosystem, and attract European players, by focusing on sovereign datacenters powered by clean, competitive energy.
The emergence of DeepSeek in China proves that American domination of AI is not unshakeable. Europe can still play a key role by coordinating its efforts and investing strategically. While the future of AI is also being played out in the field of energy, France, by capitalizing on its unique energy mix, can strengthen its digital sovereignty and contribute to the emergence of a credible European alternative. It's time to seize this opportunity to assert our technological and energy leadership!
This article was co-written by Thibault Guibert & Félix Humbaire, associates at Eurogroup Consulting.
