Nvidia to invest in four French startups, makes $250M UK compute donation

Nvidia is set to invest in four French startups and donate $250 million to AI safety and research in the UK, as it seeks to strengthen its ties with the European tech ecosystem. The company has earmarked minority stakes for investments in French healthtech Doctolib, AI startup Entalpic, robotics startup Genesis AI, and enterprise software company Pigment. This follows Nvidia's acquisition of France-based AI platform Hugging Face, valued at approximately $12.9 billion, one of the company's largest deals.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who embarked on a European tour, announced these investments during his visit to France, emphasizing their role in "kicking off the artificial intelligence revolution in Europe." The exact size of these investments was not disclosed, but according to French news outlet Les Echos, Nvidia's stakes are minority shares. Genesis AI expressed its excitement about Nvidia's strategic involvement.

Beyond France, Nvidia announced a $250 million compute donation to support UK AI safety and security research over a five-year period. This investment aims to bolster the broader UK research community, with a portion of the funding directed towards the Science of Fundamental AI Research Lab (SOFAIR) at University College London, BOLD at the University of Oxford, and Imperial College London.