On this side of the Atlantic, some regularly wonder why Europe can't seem to develop digital champions on a par with Google, Amazon, or Microsoft. The answer is well known. It's a combination of a unified market, a pool of talent, a deep and liquid financial ecosystem, and generous corporate sponsors.
The announcement on Wednesday, March 27, of Amazon's investment in the young artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic provides the proof. The online retail giant will commit $2.75 billion (€2.5 billion) to the company, following $1.25 billion in September 2023. With 4 billion in total, this is the largest investment in another company in Amazon's history. In one year, Anthropic, which is neither the first nor the biggest in the AI sector, has managed to rake in $7.3 billion. Its rival, OpenAI, raised $13 billion thanks to Microsoft.
By comparison, French champion Mistral AI has raised nearly 400 million euros in less than a year of existence. Twenty times less. In a business where training software requires considerable investment, the difference is critical.
According to the Wall Street Journal, nearly $29 billion will have been invested by American capitalism in artificial intelligence by 2023. Finally, the French have no champions in their field on the Old Continent to compensate for the weakness of investors. With Amazon and Microsoft, Google has invested $2 billion in Anthropic.
Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are all the more comfortable spending mountains of dollars in the sector because they are the primary beneficiaries. Indeed, the money raised by AI start-ups is massively spent by the owners of the big data centers that train and run their software. In other words, at home.
Anthropic will spend $2 billion with Google and $4 billion with Amazon. Even France's Mistral has signed up with Microsoft. Big Tech will quickly recoup its investment. Magic. But judges may have a different view of this strange symbiosis, which threatens more than just European entrepreneurs! In the meantime, artificial intelligence will remain one of the Net giants' top priorities.