France IT Market

Main article: Economy of France

2020: France decided to outbid its startups for public account so that they do not go to "bad foreigners"

In early June 2020, France created a fund to protect domestic technology companies that can become the "prey" of foreign buyers. Read more here.

2019: France imposes additional 3% tax on foreign IT companies

In early March 2019, the government France imposed a new Amazon Google Facebook 3% tax on the income received in the country on large technology companies such as, and.

The move is designed to stop companies from evading taxes: often they pay only in the country where they are based, often at very low rates. As a result, tech giants pay almost no taxes in several countries where they make huge profits.

In early March 2019, the French government imposed major tech companies such as Amazon, Google and Facebook with a new 3% tax on income generated in the country

France will begin to levy a new tax retroactively from the beginning of 2019 on companies whose revenues in the world exceed 750 million euros, and in France - 25 million euros. According to the country's government, this will replenish the treasury by 500 million euros in 2019, and by 2022 this amount will grow to 650 million euros. The measures mean almost nothing to IT giants, but analysts say a move like this could pave the way for further measures in other states. For example, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom are considering introducing a similar tax.

The French government made this decision after several EU members failed to introduce a pan-European tax on the profits of digital companies. Their project was blocked by Ireland and Sweden, who argued that such measures could lead to a loss of income and revenge from the United States and other affected countries.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is also mulling the idea of a global digital tax for tech companies, but it will not be decided until 2020. France has expressed a willingness to abolish the new tax if the OECD comes up with a more convenient plan. In the meantime, the US does not want the measures to focus solely on tech companies and suggests focusing on marketing spending by companies abroad.^[1]

2018

Internet penetration rate 85%

2018

Investing 1.5 billion euros in artificial intelligence

At the end of March 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a state investment of 1.5 billion euros in artificial intelligence until 2022. The country seeks to reduce the leakage of highly qualified IT specialists and catch up with the United States and China, which are leading the development of technology.

According to Reuters, the head of France wants to turn the country into a "startup nation," optimize labor laws and increase spending on technology in order to create more IT jobs, weaken the dominance of Google, Facebook and other IT giants, and lay the foundation for nurturing European "champions."

Emmanuel Macron

Among the measures proposed by Emmanuel Macron in the development of French artificial intelligence technologies is providing startups working in this area with access to data collected by French state agencies, for example, a health base. In addition, the French leader is striving for more active interaction between public research centers and private companies.

Macron's AI projects were inspired by the report of the deputy from his party "Artificial Forward, Republic!" Cedric Villani. Among other measures, he proposed doubling the salary of young researchers, as well as working to create favorable conditions for scientific work.

To preserve specialists in the country, jobs are needed, for this it was decided to cooperate with IT corporations (Samsung, Fujitsu, Google), which at the end of March 2018 agreed to build research centers in France.

Meanwhile McKinsey , analysts call Macron's announced investment in AI a "drop in the ocean," since global spending on artificial intelligence applications is about $20-30 billion.^[2]

See also

• IT (Russian market)

Notes