The French government wants to free itself from American influence. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced on Tuesday morning that French company ChapsVision has been chosen to replace US firm Palantir in handling large-scale data processing for the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI).
"We cannot accept new strategic dependencies in the digital sphere", the prime minister argued, expressing his desire to "build genuine autonomy" so as "not to depend on the goodwill of certain partners, who are capable of turning off the tap on access" to AI.
A break after ten years of partnership
The announcement comes as a surprise, as the DGSI renewed its contract with Palantir last December for a further three years. The precise terms of the transition and the timetable for rolling out the new solution have yet to be set out by the French authorities.
Founded by billionaire Peter Thiel with backing from the CIA, Palantir sells military-grade, AI-based data-integration tools to governments and companies. Its collaboration with the DGSI dates back to the 13 November 2015 attacks. Amid the security emergency and the massive increase in data to be analysed, the French services turned to Palantir’s Gotham solution, then regarded as one of the few platforms capable of meeting such operational needs.
Since the first contract was signed in 2016, and then renewed in 2019 and 2022, French intelligence officials have regularly described this reliance on American technology as a temporary fix, pending a credible national alternative.
Shortly after the announcement, Palantir said in a statement that the contract concluded with the DGSI remains "fully in force".
A climate of mistrust towards the United States
The unpredictability of US President Donald Trump on the international stage has led European allies to ask themselves whether decades of American support in areas such as security and technology can still be taken for granted.
Washington last week ordered US artificial-intelligence start-up Anthropic to deny "all foreign nationals" access to its two most powerful models, Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5, citing "national security". The order prompted reactions from several declared or potential presidential candidates in France. They warned of an "AI war" and stressed the need for independence from the United States.
Earlier this year, the German army said it would no longer use Palantir, while the United Kingdom is reviewing the £330 million (€382 million) data contract between the National Health Service and Palantir, following political and parliamentary pressure.
London mayor Sadiq Khan has also blocked a proposed £50 million contract between Palantir and the capital’s police force, citing value-for-money and procurement concerns.
€655 million for AI in France
Sébastien Lecornu also said that France plans to invest €655 million in artificial intelligence and to roll out a chatbot shared by all government departments.
France will also develop a public-health chatbot for the state health-insurance agency Ameli, as well as a new digital platform designed to make it easier to access public data.
For ChapsVision, the decision marks a major milestone in its development. The company aims to become one of the European leaders in data intelligence and agentic artificial intelligence, and had already won in 2024 an initial DGSI contract covering the processing of heterogeneous data. The contract awarded today allows it to take over the exploitation of mass data, a field historically occupied by Palantir.
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