Paris stakes its claim in the artificial intelligence race. NVIDIA chief Jensen Huang brought that message Tuesday to Salle des Tirages, the storied venue on Place Vendôme that has witnessed major events for over a hundred years.
Huang addressed founders, researchers, policymakers and journalists at NVIDIA’s France AI Ecosystem Reception. His core argument: Europe stands at the threshold of an industrial AI transformation.
“Europe is one of the great regions of industrial manufacturing,” Huang said. “This is the beginning of the AI journey for the EU.”
France’s Minister of the Economy, Roland Lescure, joined Huang onstage. He framed the stakes in economic terms. “We want Europe to enjoy this revolution that’s going to create prosperity, jobs and revenue,” Lescure said. “For this we need pioneers.”
The reception drew crowds around Hugging Face’s Microducks, 10-inch biped robots powered by open source software. The tiny machines served as tangible proof of what accessible AI development can produce.
Huang also fielded questions from reporters outside the venue, focusing on security protocols for AI deployment. “Containment and monitoring are the fundamental pillars of AI,” he said.
Later that evening, the NVIDIA CEO met French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace. Their conversation covered NVIDIA’s growing footprint in France, with investments flowing into startups, AI-native companies and computing infrastructure across the country.
Open source technology ranked high on the agenda. Both leaders discussed its importance for France and Europe more broadly, along with AI safety measures and NVIDIA’s newly launched Open Agent Safety Platform.
The Paris appearance follows NVIDIA’s broader European push. As the company deepens its commitments across the continent, France positions itself as a central hub for that expansion. The coming months will reveal whether these investments translate into the industrial revival both Huang and Lescure envision.
