This year, NVIDIA GTC Paris took place at VivaTech, bringing together the brightest minds in AI, robotics, and computing for a showcase of cutting-edge innovation. From NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang’s visionary keynote to sessions by AI leaders and live demos at the NVIDIA GTC booth, the event highlighted how the future of technology is unfolding right here in Paris.
Jensen Huang on AI, Infrastructure, and Innovation
In the Dôme de Paris, Jensen Huang delivered a keynote on the opening day of VivaTech, tracing the evolution of artificial intelligence, from Perception AI to Generative AI and what he now calls Agentic AI: systems that can reason, plan, and act on their own. “In the last couple of years, we started a new wave: agentic AI, with its physical embodiment — robotics — coming soon,” he said. He introduced the concept of AI factories, describing data centers not as passive infrastructure, but as places that actively produce intelligence. Powered by NVIDIA’s new Grace Blackwell platform, these centers will be key to meeting the growing demand for AI compute. “Blackwell is an engineering marvel... and it is just the beginning,” he said.
A big focus was Europe’s emerging role in the AI economy. Huang announced partnerships with telecom leaders like Orange and Swisscom, and a major collaboration with French generative AI pioneer Mistral AI to build a dedicated AI cloud. “Europe has now awakened to the importance of building AI infrastructure.” Finally, Huang shared plans for the world’s first Industrial AI Cloud in Europe, which will support design, simulation, and robotics. Read the full recap here.
Startups Powering the Future at NVIDIA GTC
NVIDIA GTC buzzed with energy as some of the most exciting startups showcased their breakthrough AI and tech innovations. These rising stars are pushing the boundaries of what is possible.
Mistral AI
Mistral AI, the French startup making waves in the global AI race, is focused on building open-weight, high-performance large language models. Known for its rapid progress and homegrown talent, the company recently partnered with NVIDIA to support European AI infrastructure. With a strong research backbone and bold product ambition, Mistral is positioning itself as a key player in Europe’s AI future.
Deepset
Deepset, a Berlin-based startup, is helping enterprises unlock the power of unstructured data with large language models. Its open-source framework, Haystack, and enterprise-ready platform, Deepset Cloud, make it easier to build, deploy, and monitor custom NLP applications. From semantic search to generative Q&A, Deepset gives teams full control without vendor lock-in. It’s a practical, open approach to putting AI to work in the real world.
PolyAI
PolyAI, a fast-growing startup out of London, is reimagining voice-based customer service with conversational AI that sounds human. Used by global brands like FedEx and Marriott, their multilingual voice assistants handle complex calls at scale. It’s a leap forward in making automated customer interactions feel effortless, intuitive, and truly personal.
Agora Labs
Agora Labs is developing a platform to allow pharmaceutical firms, artificial intelligence firms, and researchers access to real-world data created by public hospitals, patients’ medical histories, and an array of medical devices. The company is building an ecosystem of health data and helping medical research by enabling secure and private data sharing for research and innovation.
By the Numbers: GTC Paris 2025 in Focus
At GTC Paris in Hall 7 of Porte de Versailles, NVIDIA showcased Europe's accelerating shift toward AI as a foundational infrastructure. The event drew 10,000 visitors across two days, with crowds flocking to see over 40 sessions and an exhibition area featuring over 150 exhibitors and sponsors. CEO Jensen Huang unveiled the GB200 NVL72, NVIDIA's most powerful AI platform to date, now in full production with partners manufacturing 1,000 units weekly. These systems, ranging from compact DGX Spark units to rack-mounted RTX PRO Servers, are designed to support both AI infrastructure services and private AI factories.
Huang also emphasized Europe's commitment to sovereign AI, introducing new, open models on the Nemotron platform for developing region-specific large language models and the NeMo Agent toolkit for building autonomous AI agents. Additionally, NVIDIA announced collaborations with European governments and cloud providers to deploy these technologies across the continent, marking a significant step in Europe's AI-driven future.
The Tech Evolution Continues
Hosting both VivaTech and GTC Paris together was a milestone for the city, highlighting Paris as a global tech hotspot. With fresh partnerships and bold ideas, the next breakthroughs are just around the corner. Mark your calendar and join us at VivaTech 2026 to stay part of the story.
