American chipmaker Nvidia has announced minority investments in four French technology companies, including the medical appointment platform Doctolib, as it expands its presence in Europe’s fast-growing artificial intelligence sector.
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Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang announced the plans in Paris on Tuesday, saying they were intended to “launch the artificial intelligence revolution in Europe”.
Neither Nvidia nor the French companies disclosed the size or value of the stakes.
Doctolib, one of France’s best-known technology companies, said Nvidia would become a minority shareholder without a seat on its board. The platform, valued at €3.6 billion in its last funding round, allows patients to book medical appointments and store health records.
Chief executive Stanislas Niox-Château said the investment would accelerate recruitment and the development of Doctolib’s in-house artificial intelligence (AI) models. These are intended to power a personal health assistant for patients and assistants for medical staff, covering administrative and clinical tasks.
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Doctolib will use Nvidia’s chips, computing capacity and open software, while seeking to retain control of its models and patient data rather than relying on US AI providers such as OpenAI or Anthropic.
The company launched a research programme in August using data from its 50 million users to improve patient pathways, a move criticised by rights groups.
The Ligue des droits de l’Homme warned in a statement on 16 July that "health data... containing details of diagnoses, medical treatments and health histories, carry a significant risk of stigmatisation, discrimination and abusive profiling".
European investment
Nvidia also announced investments in Genesis AI, a Franco-American robotics start-up; Pigment, which develops AI-assisted business planning software; and Entalpic, which uses generative AI to discover new industrial materials.
Huang said Nvidia had invested at least $8 billion in Europe last year and plans to spend a further $2bn this year.
He later met President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée Palace to discuss Nvidia’s investments in France’s AI ecosystem, open-source technology and AI security.
"Jensen Huang knows it," Macron wrote in a social media post. "France is Europe’s most attractive country for artificial intelligence... Nvidia is investing in French companies and committing to support our Franco-German initiative to develop open research in Europe."
(with newswires)