Macron says Europe lacks scale, capital and risk appetite, and bets on India and quantum.
Scale, capital and risk are Europe's three gapsMacron: the domestic market must be Europe's 450 million people, savings must stop flowing into bonds and abroad, and founders must take more risk.
Foreign money in French data centres still builds sovereigntyOver 60% of the 109 billion euros is deployed; the sites sit in France, serve French players, transfer technology and comply with European regulation.
Quantum is France's bet, failure is the methodHe names the quantum computer as the moonshot and says the job is backing people ready to lose eight times but try nine.
Executive SummaryAI
Asked why France, an early inventor of technology, has no company the size of the American or Chinese giants, Macron names three missing pieces: scale, because Europe's single market of 450 million inhabitants is still fragmented; capital, because Europe's large savings are channelled into bonds or invested outside Europe; and appetite for risk.
On the 109 billion euro AI investment announced a year ago, of which 50 billion comes from the UAE, he answers that more than 60% is already deployed, that the data centres sit in France and will be used by French players, and that the alternative — buying finished solutions abroad — would mean handing over data with no technology transfer and no protection.
He pitches France to Indian students and founders: access to Polytechnique, Paris-Sorbonne and Ecole Normale Supérieure, teaching in English rather than French, a mature economy with large companies alongside what he calls the most vibrant startup ecosystem in Europe, plus culture, fashion and cinema.
Pressed for a French moonshot for 2035, he picks the quantum computer, citing unique mathematicians and high-performing startups and labs, while warning that innovation cannot be planned and that the goal is to back people ready to lose eight times and try nine.
On geopolitics he argues India and France prove a third way — good relations with both the US and China without dependence on either — calls Trump's publication of private messages and the 200% tariff threat a failure of respect, wants the euro strengthened as an alternative to the dollar, and says what scares him most is the collapse of a reliable defence and security framework after Russia's war
Key Quote
“I really believe that respect is part of the leadership.”
— Emmanuel Macron
Key Quote
“As always, remind people that entrepreneur is a French word.”
— Emmanuel Macron
Key Quote
“So I think the missing point is first scale, not just for the French, but for all the Europeans.”