Eight AI labs, split across the US, Europe and China, are writing the capability ceiling for the technology reshaping global industry and statecraft.

France's capital is Europe's second-largest startup ecosystem, with 37 active unicorns, a US$169 billion ecosystem value, and AI accounting for 48% of all funding deals as of 2025.

Europe's frontier challenger raises again months after ASML led its prior round; Emmi acquisition seeds industrial models

DeepSeek and Qwen keep open models near-frontier and cheap; Meta and Alibaba keep their best tiers proprietary