Iliad, the French telecoms group, announced a €3 billion ($3.10 billion) investment in AI infrastructure, focusing on datacenters and computing power, Reuters news report said.
Its subsidiary OpCore, which operates Iliad’s 13 data centers, will manage the investment. OpCore plans to deploy several hundred megawatts of capacity in the short-term, with a long-term goal of expanding to several gigawatts across Europe.
Iliad, as part of its AI strategy, has partnered with French AI firm Mistral AI to integrate the “le Chat pro” AI model, benefiting its 15.5 million subscribers in France.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump’s Stargate initiative aims to invest up to $500 billion in AI over the next five years. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has encouraged Europe to embrace AI and hinted at the possibility of a Stargate-like initiative in the region.
Iliad has recently announced several significant investment plans.
In December 2023, Iliad secured a €300 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to finance the expansion of its 5G network in France. This marks the seventh loan from the EIB to Iliad since 2009, bringing the total financing to over €1.7 billion. The investment will support Iliad’s efforts to enhance its 5G coverage, which already reaches over 94.4 percent of the French population.
Earlier, in January 2023, Iliad obtained another €300 million loan from the EIB to accelerate the rollout of its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks in France. This funding aims to improve ultra-fast broadband access, including in less densely populated and rural areas, aligning with European objectives to provide every household with high-speed internet by 2025.
Furthermore, in September 2024, a consortium led by Iliad’s founder, Xavier Niel, acquired Ukraine’s third-largest mobile operator, Lifecell, and merged it with Datagroup-Volia, a fixed-telecom and pay-TV firm. The deal, valued at over $524.3 million, is expected to create a platform serving around 10 million mobile users and more than 4 million fixed-access network subscribers in Ukraine, Reuters news report said.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
