MGX and Phoenix Place UAE Capital Behind France’s AI Rise

When French President Emmanuel Macron thanked companies choosing to invest in France following the latest Choose France Summit, two names from the UAE stood out: MGX and Phoenix Group.

The ninth edition of the summit was held at the Palace of Versailles on June 1, bringing together more than 200 international business leaders as France sought new commitments supporting its industrial base and greater European independence.

Against that backdrop, the investments by MGX and Phoenix carry significance beyond their individual projects.

MGX is expanding its commitment to Campus AI, a large-scale artificial intelligence infrastructure initiative in France. Phoenix, meanwhile, is using an AI-ready data center near Lyon as the entry point for a much larger European computing platform.

Together, MGX and Phoenix show how UAE capital and infrastructure experience are becoming part of France’s effort to lead Europe’s AI buildout.

France is not only trying to attract startups, researchers or software companies. It is seeking the electricity, land, grid connections, data centers and investment required to operate artificial intelligence at scale.

France Moves AI Infrastructure to the Centre

Artificial intelligence leadership increasingly depends on physical infrastructure.

Training and operating advanced AI systems requires large concentrations of computing equipment, reliable access to electricity, cooling systems, industrial land and extensive grid capacity.

Without those foundations, countries with strong research institutions and technology companies can remain dependent on computing capacity owned and operated elsewhere.

France is attempting to address that dependence by positioning itself as a European base for large-scale AI infrastructure.

The country’s nuclear-power system is central to that argument. It offers access to substantial quantities of relatively low-carbon electricity at a time when the growth of AI is increasing demand for energy-intensive data centers.

France is also promoting its industrial land, grid infrastructure and political support for projects considered strategically important.

Macron’s recognition of MGX and Phoenix therefore reflects more than France’s general campaign to attract foreign investment. Both companies are contributing to an infrastructure layer Paris increasingly considers important to French and European technological sovereignty.

MGX Expands Its Commitment to France

MGX represents the larger of the two UAE-backed commitments.

The Abu Dhabi-based AI investment company is working with French public investment bank Bpifrance on the development and expansion of Campus AI. The initiative also includes French AI company Mistral AI and US chipmaker Nvidia within the broader technology ecosystem.

The project was initially centered on a major campus in the Paris region with planned capacity of approximately 1.4 gigawatts. Its scope has since expanded towards a proposed network targeting as much as 3 gigawatts of AI infrastructure in France.

MGX and Bpifrance are committing approximately €7.5 billion to support the expansion.

Speaking during the announcements linked to Choose France, an MGX representative said the company was doubling its investment after seeing the progress achieved over the previous two years.

He used the expression “Notre-Dame speed” to describe the pace of the project, referring to the rapid reconstruction of the Notre-Dame Cathedral following the 2019 fire.

The phrase addressed one of Europe’s most persistent infrastructure challenges: execution.

European markets possess investment capital, scientific expertise and demand for computing capacity. However, large data-center developments can face delays caused by permitting procedures, constrained grid access and fragmented decision-making.

MGX’s message was that France had demonstrated an ability to accelerate a project once it was identified as strategically important.

The representative also argued that France had moved from the beginning of the artificial intelligence revolution to becoming “the leader in Europe, and certainly a global leader.”

That assessment closely supports Macron’s broader positioning of France.

The country does not want to serve only as a market where international technology companies sell their services. It wants to become one of the locations where the physical systems powering those services are built and operated.

Turning French Electricity into AI Capacity

The MGX statement also drew a direct connection between energy and artificial intelligence.

The representative described the company’s business as effectively transforming electrons into tokens and agents capable of performing tasks for the French and European economies.

Behind the metaphor is the industrial reality of AI: computing capacity begins with electricity.

As AI models become larger and more widely deployed, demand is rising for facilities capable of hosting dense clusters of advanced processors. These facilities require reliable power at a scale that many European markets cannot easily provide.

France is presenting its nuclear fleet as a competitive advantage in that race.

MGX brings the capital and investment scale required to develop large computing campuses around that energy base. Its participation also connects France’s domestic AI ambitions with the UAE’s expanding international technology strategy.

Phoenix approaches the same opportunity from a different position.

Phoenix Uses Lyon as Its European Entry Point

Phoenix Group is partnering with French data-center developer DC Max to develop an 18-megawatt AI-ready facility near Lyon.

The Abu Dhabi-listed digital infrastructure company says the project has secured land, permits, grid connectivity and access to power. Construction is expected to begin in July 2026, with delivery targeted between the fourth quarter of 2027 and the first quarter of 2028.

The facility is designed to support artificial intelligence and high-performance-computing workloads.

Although the initial Lyon site is substantially smaller than the wider Campus AI ambition, Phoenix does not present it as an isolated development.

It is intended to become the first deployment of a repeatable European infrastructure platform.

“France represents everything we look for when deploying next-generation digital infrastructure at scale — access to power, a resilient grid, secured land, permits and a supportive environment to accelerate development,” Munaf Ali, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Phoenix Group, told Unlock Blockchain.

“Lyon marks Phoenix Group's strategic entry point into Europe, but our ambition extends far beyond a single site. We are targeting over 500 megawatts of AI and HPC capacity across our European platform, scaling to more than one gigawatt across France, Europe and the GCC.

“What we are building here is not a single data center — it is the foundation of a large-scale AI infrastructure presence across the continent. This is exactly the type of infrastructure the next era of technology requires.”

Ali’s remarks place Lyon within a broader Phoenix strategy rather than presenting it as a standalone data-center investment.

France gives the company an entry point into a European market where demand for AI computing capacity is increasing, while access to power-backed and development-ready sites remains constrained.

The project also gives Phoenix an opportunity to apply experience developed in Bitcoin mining to a broader digital infrastructure market.

Phoenix Builds Beyond Bitcoin Mining

Phoenix built much of its operating experience through Bitcoin mining, where securing electricity, managing energy costs, cooling equipment and deploying high-density computing infrastructure are central to the business.

Those capabilities are increasingly relevant to AI and high-performance computing.

However, the transition is not automatic. Enterprise AI facilities require different equipment, network architecture, technical standards, customers and reliability requirements from conventional Bitcoin mining sites.

Phoenix’s move into France should therefore be viewed as a corporate expansion rather than simply a relabeling of existing mining operations.

The Lyon facility is the company’s first European AI data-center deployment. Phoenix says the wider platform could exceed one gigawatt of combined AI and high-performance-computing capacity across Europe and the GCC.

The company has associated the development pipeline with an estimated opportunity of approximately $8 billion.

Phoenix’s expansion also reflects a broader shift in the infrastructure market. Companies experienced in obtaining power and operating energy-intensive computing sites are looking to benefit from growing demand for AI capacity.

MGX and Phoenix Build Different Parts of the Same Story

MGX and Phoenix occupy different positions within the AI infrastructure value chain.

MGX brings large-scale investment capital and participates in an ecosystem connecting computing capacity, advanced chips and French AI companies.

Phoenix is focused more directly on the physical deployment layer: securing land, power, permits and operational infrastructure for AI and high-performance-computing facilities.

Their investments point towards a developing alignment between French industrial policy and the UAE’s international AI ambitions.

The UAE has placed artificial intelligence at the center of its economic strategy. Its companies and investment platforms are increasingly moving beyond AI applications and financial investments into data centers, energy infrastructure and computing capacity.

France offers those companies access to the European market, substantial nuclear-generated electricity, industrial infrastructure and political support for strategic projects.

The relationship is therefore complementary.

France needs international capital and experienced infrastructure developers to accelerate its AI buildout. UAE companies are seeking markets where they can establish long-term positions within the physical infrastructure supporting the global AI economy.

Macron’s public recognition of MGX and Phoenix reinforces the importance France places on that combination.

AI Sovereignty Without Full US Independence

France’s infrastructure strategy is frequently described through the language of AI sovereignty.

That does not mean the country is building an AI ecosystem entirely independent of the United States.

Nvidia remains involved in the Campus AI ecosystem, while US companies continue to dominate important areas of advanced chip design, cloud computing and AI software.

France is not removing American technology from its market.

Its more realistic objective is to reduce Europe’s complete dependence on infrastructure owned, hosted and governed outside the continent.

By building more computing capacity domestically, France can retain greater control over energy, infrastructure, data governance and the economic activity created by artificial intelligence.

This is sovereignty through infrastructure rather than technological isolation.

Mistral AI provides France with a domestic AI participant, but it is one component of a much larger industrial effort.

The central story is the infrastructure being assembled around France’s ambitions.

MGX brings UAE capital at a scale capable of supporting national AI infrastructure. Phoenix brings experience in securing power and developing energy-intensive computing facilities.

Together, MGX and Phoenix are placing UAE capital and operating capability behind France’s attempt to lead Europe’s AI infrastructure expansion.

The remaining question is whether that capacity will eventually provide Europe with meaningful control over its AI future—or primarily create European locations for a technology stack that continues to be shaped elsewhere.