€620 billion over three years: the cost of a French plan to stay in the AI race

In *Le Grand Continent*, four authors set out in detail the cost of French technological independence, including a national laboratory, a public computing infrastructure and outdated criteria for decommissioning.

Published on September 15, 2026 in Le Grand Continent, a contribution signed Tristan Claret-Trente livres, Raphaël Doan, Aymeric Roucher and Victor Storchan put a prize on French autonomy in artificial intelligence: about 620 billion euros over three years, including some 130 billion public money and 490 billion private investment.

The proposed scheme is structured in three stages: a laboratory called Prometheus, a private company under State supervision; a computing infrastructure, Calculation of France, mainly public; and additional access to the computing market through international partnerships. The authors assume filiation with the major French industrial programmes, with explicit reference to nuclear power and to the visit of de Gaulle to Pierrelatte in 1963.

The plan is distinguished above all by its exit clauses. Evaluation points are set at 12 and 30 months, with a stated commitment: if the objectives are not met, "acharging by new public subsidies would be absolutely excluded". Finally, the authors outline an international coalition where partners would contribute 0.3% of their annual GDP for three years, in exchange for guaranteed access to models and computing capacity — a consideration that they consider almost free of charge in relation to the calculation demand expected by 2034.