Nvidia’s Huang opens VivaTech with European AI factory push

Jensen Huang Opens VivaTech Paris With European AI Factory Vision

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took the stage at VivaTech 2026 in Paris on Wednesday as the 10th-anniversary edition of Europe’s largest technology conference opened its doors, delivering a keynote focused on the continent-wide buildout of AI factories, agentic AI systems, and physical AI infrastructure.vivatech

A Continent Bets on Sovereign AI

The appearance at the Dôme de Paris marks Huang’s return to VivaTech after his 2025 GTC Paris keynote at the same venue, where he first laid out a sweeping vision for European sovereign AI and announced partnerships with telecom operators and governments across the continent. This year’s address comes as those earlier commitments begin to materialize. Mistral AI, the French generative AI company, is expected to bring its first Nvidia-powered data center near Paris online by the end of June 2026, featuring 13,800 Nvidia GB300 GPUs delivering 44 megawatts of compute capacity. The facility is part of a broader plan by Mistral to reach 200 megawatts across European sites, backed by $830 million in debt financing from lenders including Bpifrance, BNP Paribas, HSBC, and MUFG.vivatech

Foxconn used VivaTech’s opening day to announce its European debut, showcasing the Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale AI platform for the first time on the continent and revealing a partnership with France’s Bull to manufacture and commercialize the system under the Bull brand.newswire

Broader European Infrastructure Push

The Paris conference reflects a broader European pivot toward domestically owned AI infrastructure. In Germany, Deutsche Telekom is operating what it calls Europe’s first industrial AI cloud, initially deploying 10,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs to serve manufacturers across the region. The European Union has committed to building four AI gigafactories at a projected cost of $20 billion, with a 100,000-GPU program in Germany expected to go online in 2027.nvidia

According to Reuters, Nvidia’s Huang has told EU officials he would allocate chip production capacity specifically for European AI factory projects.investing

Shareholder Vote Looms

Huang’s Paris appearance comes a week ahead of Nvidia’s 2026 annual stockholder meeting, scheduled for June 24. Shareholders will vote on items detailed in a proxy statement filed May 12, including four contested shareholder proposals addressing greenhouse gas emissions disclosure, religious discrimination policies, DEI-related civil liberties reporting, and a push to replace supermajority voting provisions with a simple majority standard.nvidia

VivaTech 2026 runs through June 20, with additional keynotes expected from Meta’s Yann LeCun and Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch.allinmotion