- Its future depends on thoughtful governance, technological innovation, and international cooperation to harness AI’s promise while mitigating its dangers.
Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, frames AI neither as a dystopian threat nor a tool of elite domination, but as a liberating force and a great equaliser.
Speaking at VivaTech in Paris, Huang emphasised AI’s capacity to democratise technology access by driving down costs and accelerating innovation on a global scale.
Nvidia’s extensive AI initiatives across Europe reflect this vision. From deploying advanced chips and building AI clouds to partnering with local startups and industries, the company is embedding AI infrastructure deeply within the continent’s technological landscape.
Huang introduces the concept of the “AI factory”—massive data centres that generate intelligence to power diverse applications such as language models, autonomous vehicles, and medical diagnostics.
AI misuse remains serious
He acknowledges concerns about concentrated power but argues that rapid innovation will prevent the formation of monopolistic “technological priesthoods.”
Nonetheless, the risks of AI misuse—from surveillance to job displacement—remain serious. Huang counters these fears with a vision of autonomous, sovereign AI systems governed by layers of supervisory AIs to ensure ethical operation.
“Sovereign AI is an imperative – no company, industry or nation can outsource its intelligence,” Huang said.
He advocates for national AI infrastructures that respect local values and data sovereignty, especially as Europe grapples with stringent regulations and the challenge of remaining competitive globally against the United States and China.
In a series of Europe-focused announcements, Huang outlined plans to expand technology centres in seven countries, open up Nvidia’s compute marketplace for European companies, help AI model makers in several languages to become more advanced and aid in drug discovery by the likes of Novo Nordisk.
20 AI factories in Europe
“We will increase the amount of AI computing capacity in Europe by a factor of 10 in just two years,” Huang said.
“Europe has now awakened to the importance of AI factories and the importance of the AI infrastructure,” he said, laying out plans for 20 AI factories – large-scale infrastructure designed for developing, training and deploying AI models – in Europe.
Quantum computing
He also said that quantum computing technology stands at a pivotal juncture, highlighting the extraordinary potential of quantum calculations to solve complex problems that would otherwise require years of processing using even the most advanced AI systems developed by Nvidia.
He conveyed a forward-looking optimism, stating that quantum computing will address “some interesting problems” in the near future.
This announcement marks a notable shift from Huang’s earlier stance in January, where he predicted that useful quantum computers were still two decades away.
By March, at Nvidia’s annual software developer conference, Huang adopted a more optimistic view, reflecting the rapid advancements and growing potential within the field.
To further advance quantum computing research, Huang revealed the establishment of a new lab in Boston, which will collaborate with esteemed institutions such as Harvard and MIT.
This initiative underscores Nvidia’s commitment to accelerating progress in quantum technology, heralding a transformative era in computational capabilities.