Transition of AI from theoretical concept to practical application to be highlighted at Paris VivaTech fair.
Laid-Back Discuss: Paris's VivaTech Kicks Off, Shining Spotlight on AI and Economic Growth
Hit the town of Paris this week as the much-anticipated VivaTech trade fair kicks off, bringing together high-powered tech CEOs and the latest advances in artificial intelligence (AI). The four-day event, now in its fifth year, promises to showcase AI's potential to revolutionize everyday life.
gonna be all eyes on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who'll take center stage with an opening presentation. He'll be dressin' up in his famous leather jacket, sportin' it for the first time on European soil.
Vivatech's managing director, Francois Bitouzet, couldn't hold back his excitement, remarking that it was a "source of pride" to bring Nvidia aboard. The semiconductor heavyweight's high-powered GPUs are widely used in the latest generative AI models.
President Emmanuel Macron will drop by the event, too, with a walking tour and a huddle with a bunch of French tech startups on the agenda.
Expect more products than ever integratin' AI into everyday situations to be on display in the exhibition halls. Bitouzet stated that "we've moved from AI as science fiction to applied AI."
More than 14,000 startups from around the world and over 3,000 investors are expected to show up, with organizers hoping total visitor numbers to at least match last year's 165,000 people.
Nvidia's Game Plan
Huang's opening keynote is gonna last over an hour, and Bitouzet's excited about what's gonna come out of it. "It proves that the European market is attractive, and today (Nvidia) has ambitions for this market," he shared.
EY's European tech, media, and telecoms chief Cedric Foray predicts that Nvidia will be makin' some announcements targeted at Europe. The US firm has seen its top-performing chips restricted for export by both the Biden and Trump administrations due to concerns about ceding America's lead in generative AI.
Huang warned that China's makin' swift strides in catchin' up to the US, but there's been little impact on Nvidia's chip sales, accordin' to the company's recent earnings release. However, Nvidia has warned that the brakes may catch on in the current quarter.
Europe's Tech Independence
Political preoccupations occupy many European tech leaders and policymakers. Concerns range from tariffs to the continent's ability to stand on its own without US giants—and the massive funding gap for AI development between the two sides of the Atlantic.
"Sovereignty, which wasn't as important in the conversation just a year or two years ago, has become an absolutely strategic priority," Bitouzet said, echoin' Macron's expectations to emphasize "European technological sovereignty" during his visit.
Such declarations from the president would build on his hypin' of French and European openness to AI at the February Paris global summit. Top French firms showcased at VivaTech, where around half the exhibitors are local companies, will include Mistral AI, an AI competitor to much-bigger OpenAI. Mistral's founder Arthur Mensch will even have a sit-down with Macron and Huang for a roundtable at the end of the first day of the event.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
What's Happened since 2021 (Enrichment Data)
At the 2025 VivaTech conference in Paris, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced plans to build 20 new AI data centers—known as "AI factories"—across Europe. These facilities are aimed at accelerating AI innovation, supporting local industries, and strengthening Europe’s technological sovereignty in AI and computing[1][4].
In 2025, Nvidia’s investment in “AI factories” directly supported the idea of European technological sovereignty by creating local infrastructure for AI training, inference, and deployment, reducing reliance on foreign data centers and promoting homegrown innovation[4]. Additionally, European enterprises and startups, such as Mistral AI, showcased AI applications in various sectors like defense, healthtech, cybersecurity, and more, reflecting the diversity and scale of AI innovation across the continent[1].
- Technology will be at the forefront of Paris's VivaTech, with discussions revolving around artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential impact on health and various sectors.
- Nvidia, a global leader in semiconductors and AI, plans to announce the construction of 20 AI data centers, or "AI factories," across Europe to boost local AI innovation and strengthen the continent's technological sovereignty in AI and computing.
