G42 is working with DataOne to establish an AI data center - powered by AMD hardware - in France.

Core42, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi-based AI and cloud business, will install its infrastructure at DataOne’s data center in Grenoble, south-eastern France.

“Core42 will equip French enterprises, researchers, and innovators with the computational capabilities needed to develop and scale sophisticated AI models, agents, applications, and research,” the companies said in a statement. “The facility is expected to be fully operational by mid 2025.”

G42 "accelerating innovation at scale"

The size of G42’s investment and the amount of data center capacity it will create have not been shared. DCD has contacted the firm for details.

Kiril Evtimov, group CTO of G42 and CEO of Core42, said, "France is taking bold strides in AI innovation, and G42 is proud to contribute to this effort. By deploying AMD GPUs, we are not only strengthening Europe’s AI infrastructure but also enabling enterprises and researchers to accelerate innovation at scale.

“Our collaboration with local providers ensures seamless access to the computational power needed to drive the next wave of AI advancement in France and beyond."

DataOne was established last year by infrastructure and connectivity provider BSO. With the backing of the Ardian debt fund, the company is expanding two Tier III-quality campuses in France - the Grenoble site and a data center at Villefontaine, Lyon. Currently, these data centers offer a combined 15MW of IT load, but DataOne intends to expand this to 400MW by 2028.

“We are extremely proud to count Core42 among our esteemed clientele and thrilled to take on the challenge of deploying their largest AI supercomputer in Europe within just 20 weeks,” said Charles-Antoine Beyney, CEO of DataOne.

The data center will run on an unspecified number of AMD GPUs from the company’s Instinct range of AI chips.

“Our strategic collaboration with G42 will help energize the French AI ecosystem, providing the compute capacity needed to enable the local AI start-ups and AI pioneers who are driving state-of-the-art innovation and strengthening the French economy," said Lisa Su, AMD chair and CEO. “Our work with G42 is the latest example of our commitment to combine open ecosystems with industry-leading AMD AI technologies to empower public institutions and private enterprises to harness the full potential of AI.”

AI lab Mistral plans first data center

The G42 announcement came as part of an international AI summit being hosted in France this week, and follows a commitment from Brookfield to spend €20 billion ($20.7bn) on French AI infrastructure over the next five years.

France and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to work together on a separate project that could be worth up to €50 billion ($51.6bn) and include the construction of a 1GW data center.

Also ready to splash the cash on infrastructure is French AI lab Mistral, seen by some as the European company most likely to challenge the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic when it comes to developing leading-edge AI models.

The company revealed on Sunday that it is ready to launch its first “AI cluster.”

In a post on LinkedIn, it described the cluster as “a state-of-the-art facility that will foster our growth and R&D efforts.”

The company’s statement said: “It will be located near our home base in the Paris region, in Essonne, France. This scalable data center will be equipped with the latest chips to run our models, and fully powered by decarbonized energy.”

Adding that the facility “will be up and running in the next months,” the Mistral statement said: “This marks another big step in strengthening our independence, as we continue to make AI more accessible with high-performance, customizable, and open-source AI solutions for all.”

Mistral announced a partnership with Microsoft Azure in January 2024 which gave it access to the cloud platform’s supercomputing resources to help build and train its models. It has also used Google Cloud’s servers for designing its models, and it is unclear whether the new cluster is in addition to these deals or is meant as a replacement.

The speed of the deployment would suggest Mistral intends to take space in an existing data center.

The Essonne region, south-west of Paris, is already home to several campuses.

DCD has contacted Mistral for more details of its plans.