00:00Pascal, thank you for your time this morning. It's a huge investment in you in what's been called, I guess,
00:05the Silicon Valley of Europe.
00:08Tell us about what you expect this to bring to France and to the EU.
00:15You need to understand this is actually the eighth consecutive year that we have the Truth France Summit here in
00:22Versailles.
00:22And really, it's a real fireworks of announcement in the sense that we've got in excess of 93 billions of
00:29investments.
00:30We're counting only 45 billions for the SoftBank announcement on the free gigabyte and not the five gigabyte that you
00:37were mentioning.
00:38It's huge for us because we have also a side of the data centers, many of our investments, which are
00:44validating the whole strategy of whole business that France has been demonstrating.
00:48We've got, as this mentioned, the Salesforce, the Oracle, the Databricks, all investing here together with the MJX of this
00:56world.
00:56So we're very, very pleased welcoming 200 CEOs of the Fortune 500 here in excess of 400 meetings with our
01:04ministers.
01:04So this is something that we've been doing extremely well.
01:07And remember that SoftBank announcement is really by a long shot the biggest ever announcement in Europe.
01:13So we can only be pleased.
01:15Pascal, here in the U.S., we're continually reminded that demand is still much higher than supply.
01:24You know, in data centers, we're rushing to build them around the country to meet the incredible demand that we've
01:30seen for AI.
01:31Is it the same in France?
01:32Is it the same in Europe that consumers and businesses are using this technology at a pace we couldn't have
01:40imagined?
01:42The truth of the matter, the adoption rate has been never seen.
01:45We are most likely slightly behind the U.S., as it has been for the last two or three decades.
01:49But the fact that you need to really get is that France is exploring 19 terabytes of energy, of electricity.
01:56And that gives us an amazing, compelling advantage to attract and continue to attract all of these data centers.
02:03And it's not only about data centers.
02:05We're also trying basically to get the whole stack of the value chain into the AI with having our local
02:11champion, Mistral, with Amy Labs, but as well having new processors, new motherboards, the ability to build all of that
02:19and to do all of that into a concept, which is carbon neutral, which is very, very important.
02:24So we are using our USP, our nuclear energy.
02:27Ninety-five percent of our total energy is renewable, right, to basically try to create a lead and attract Sun
02:35and South Bank, but many others.
02:38We have had in the U.S. serious social concerns about the price of energy being driven higher by data
02:46centers, local residents around those areas being forced to pay much bigger bills.
02:51How do you deal with that in France?
02:55Remember, because we have a real excess of energy, 90 terawatts of data that we're exporting, that's not going to
03:04happen.
03:05We've got also a mechanism to guarantee continuous energy, both to the business and to the residentials.
03:12So this is not something which has hurt at all the mindset of the people.
03:16The social unrest that we can expect, if anything, will be about the consequences of AI that no one is
03:24really able to tell about.
03:25For the time being, we're very satisfied by what we're offering.
03:28We've got also the large names like Salesforce, Oracle, Databricks, which are putting the AI centers into Paris, which is
03:37really becoming the continental hub for AI.
03:39So this, plus over-announcement in more traditional industry, is making these true considerations in Versailles an absurd success.
03:48Can this kind of investment be large enough to affect the growth trajectory of France?
03:57Do you expect AI to help boost growth?
04:00Because that's been a problem that market watchers have noted.
04:06For example, we just spoke with Keith Lerner, and he said growth is slower in Europe, and you may have
04:11to raise rates at the ECB as well.
04:14You are absolutely right.
04:16The growth has been lower.
04:17We haven't embraced the previous revolution, being the PC, the Internet, the mobile, the same way we should have done.
04:24This is our chance to go back in the race.
04:28And President Macron has been playing a critical role in explaining that to my fellow citizens, but also at a
04:35European level,
04:36which is now why we believe that AI could extract a massive productivity gain from the 24% of the
04:43initial throughput that Europe represents on a worldwide basis.
04:46If we're able to do that, we'll be able to bear the cost of a social welfare, the cost also
04:53of maybe too much bureaucratic or tax-based mindsets.
04:58But again, it's a big bet that we're doing.
05:01Right now, it seems to work.
05:02The adoption is strong.
05:04We attract talents.
05:05We're able to fix on the territory these data centers and all the value chains.
05:11The future will tell us.
05:13For the time being, let's take stock of what we've been doing and achieving to date, which is huge, right?
05:18This is $93 billion.
05:20You understand this is more than the seven previous editions of the Truth Transform.
05:25So let's celebrate.
05:27Can I ask an economic question of you, Pascal?
05:32Because although you have cheap renewable energy to help power this kind of growth and you've got an incredible investment
05:41announcement to talk about today,
05:44Isabel Schnabel of the European Central Bank has brought up inflation concerns.
05:48And to those, the French are not immune, right?
05:52A lot of this stemming from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. invaded Iran.
05:58Are you concerned about inflation?
06:00Can you feel it in France?
06:02And could it become unanchored?
06:06We failed it, but like in the past, at the time of the Ukraine world and the explosions of the
06:12energy price, we have been, if not immune, somewhat protected from the peak of inflation seen in the U.S.
06:20or in the United Kingdom, for example, is linked to the fact that our energy price are actually competitive.
06:27Once this is said, we've got too much of high inflation with a GDP growth, which has not been satisfying.
06:34Remember, we've got Omers, we've got Ukraine.
06:36We've got an overall trade concern with the tariff kicking in finally after a year, year and a half being
06:43implemented.
06:44So I'm not going to tell you that the horizons is totally immune of concerns.
06:51But all in all, when it's related to the ability of a given country of 75 million inhabitants to basically
06:59embrace the AI revolutions,
07:02to also take full benefit of the new space, to also really take benefit of what's happening in the health
07:09areas where we got in excess of 15 announcements during these shows,
07:13I think we do part of the job.
07:15So let's not be overly optimistic.
07:18Let's realize that inflation is essentially present.
07:22That's why we need to have resolutions to Omers, Omers trade basically challenger.
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