Aramco Ventures, a subsidiary of Saudi national oil major Aramco, is opening an office in Paris to oversee European artificial intelligence investment expected to total hundreds of millions of euros, CEO Mahdi Aladel told Reuters on Tuesday.

The growth of data centres used for artificial intelligence has boomed in recent years, with many companies vying for capital and infrastructure to get a leg up on the competition.

Europe has lagged behind, with slow permitting and regulations hindering the bloc’s ability to compete with the United States and China.

However, the success of AI startups such as Mistral, a strong talent pool and government pledges to invest in AI and the AI ecosystem persuaded Aramco Ventures to choose France, Aladel said on the sidelines of the Adopt AI conference.

The company aims to focus on AI, cybersecurity and quantum computing, probably starting with a few French startups or French funds, but the intention is to cover all of Europe, he added.