France to invest €1.8 billion into cloud computing industry

The government said in a statement that the investment consists of €667 million of public financing, €444 million of European Union financing and €680 million of private co-financing.

23 research and development projects had already been selected, which would receive a total of €421 million of public financing, the government said.

“Today we implement a long-held ambition: to bring the emergence of French and European industrial champions,” Minister of Digital Affairs Cedric O said in a statement, adding that by 2025 just under €2 billion would be mobilised for the sector.

O announced the initiative in the offices of French cloud computing firm OVHcloud.

French policymakers hope OVHcloud will offer an alternative to US giants Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services, which dominate the market.

In October, French defence company Thales announced a partnership with Google to offer state-vetted cloud computing services for the storage of some of France’s most sensitive data.