France and the Czech Republic Sign an AI Pact as Bull Joins the Czech Gigafactory Bid
France and the Czech Republic have signed a bilateral strategic cooperation agreement on artificial intelligence and digital technology, the French Ministry of the Economy said in a press release. Anne Le Hénanff, France’s minister delegate for AI and digital affairs, and Karel Havlíček, the Czech minister of industry and trade, signed the text on Wednesday, October 21, presenting it as a step toward a sovereign, competitive and open European AI.
The agreement sets four priorities: a shared strategic ambition on AI, with closer coordination between the two governments; support for sovereign technologies to strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy and competitiveness; a concerted approach to the European AI Gigafactories initiative run by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, including coordination ahead of its call for projects; and permanent points of contact in both administrations to keep joint projects moving.
The ministers also welcomed an industrial deal between the Czech company České Radiokomunikace (CRA) and France’s Bull. Under it, Bull joins the consortium carrying the Czech application to EuroHPC for co-funding of an AI gigafactory. “The partnership concluded between CRA and Bull is its first concrete expression,” Le Hénanff said, in a quote translated from the French release. Havlíček said the cooperation strengthens his country’s ambition to host an AI Gigafactory and to give Czech companies and researchers the computing capacity they need.
What it means in practice
For France, the deal places a national industrial player inside another country’s bid rather than in competition with it. Bull, which recently reopened its rebuilt Angers factory to build European AI supercomputers, gains a route into a second gigafactory project, while French players prepare their own bids, including Mistral’s planned bid to lead an EU AI gigafactory consortium.
Bull is also part of the trusted AI cloud consortium formed with Cloud Temple, Thales, Vates and the CEA, a sign that the company is positioning itself as a hardware partner for sovereign European computing. The press release did not give a budget, site or capacity for the Czech project.
What to watch: when EuroHPC opens and decides its gigafactory call, whether the Czech consortium adds further partners, and whether France signs similar bilateral agreements with other member states preparing bids.