Amazon on Monday announced plans to invest €1.3 billion into its French operations, creating more than 3,000 permanent jobs.

The investment comes as major tech giants double down on the cloud computing market, driven by soaring demand for generative AI capabilities.

A significant portion of Amazon's investment will expand its cloud infrastructure around Paris to bolster support for France's burgeoning generative AI ecosystem. Logistics infrastructure in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region will also be upgraded.

France has emerged as an AI hotbed, with promising startups like Mistral and Poolside alongside research hubs for Meta, Google and others.

The news follows Sunday's announcement from the French presidency that Amazon, GSK, and Accenture would unveil multi-billion euro investments at the country's annual "Choose France" business summit this week. For Amazon, the commitment extends its €20 billion investment in France since 2010 across its cloud and e-commerce businesses.

"These jobs are in addition to the 2,000 we announced for 2024," said Frédéric Duval, Amazon France country manager. Part of the funds will expand Amazon's 35 logistics facilities to improve delivery speeds and lower carbon emissions.

The moves signal Amazon's ambitions to dominate Europe's cloud market amid intensifying competition from Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. Cloud demand has skyrocketed with advances in generative AI like OpenAI's ChatGPT, which requires vast computing power.

Amazon Web Services currently leads the cloud infrastructure market but faces mounting pressure to retain its edge.

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