The first artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer for the French armies will be supplied by an American manufacturer: Hewlett Packard. The Ministry of the Armed Forces announced Thursday October 24 that it had selected the offer from the tandem associating Hewlett-Packard (HP) and the operator Orange, rather than that of Atos. “The supercomputer will be delivered in autumn 2025 and fully operational at the end of 2025,” he said in a press release issued on this occasion. This classified supercomputer, believed to be the most powerful in Europe, will be located at Mont-Valérien in Suresnes.
By selecting an American offer rather than a French one, has the Ministry of the Armed Forces committed a crime of sovereignty violation? Especially since AI is considered a ‘game changer’ to win the conflicts of the future. Not so sure. Despite this choice, Sébastien Lecornu will have no trouble staying straight in his boots. For what ? Even before the conclusion of the supercomputer acquisition procedure, the Minister of the Armed Forces had quite simply considered that there was no real debate on sovereignty in the choice to be made, American suppliers being essential in this area.
Technological dependence
“The question of sovereignty in this matter is a good debate, precisely because there is none. (…) Both offers take their supply from Nvidia”the minister already explained to the senators of the Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Committee on October 15. According to him, Nvidia has 90 to 95% of the market for GPU chips needed for AI supercomputers and the rest is held by another American manufacturer.
This is not the first time that the Ministry of the Armed Forces is faced with such a situation of dependence on American computer technologies. “Many computers in the Ministry of the Armed Forces have Microsoft. That’s how it is. There is no French solution”had again recognized Sébastien Lecornu in front of the senators.
For the minister, this is not an insurmountable problem as long as the security of French military interests remains guaranteed. How ? By deploying a completely secure ad hoc network architecture that prevents any system attack, remote takeover or data leak. Whether for a fleet of PCs or a supercomputer. “It is rather the implementation of this software (software, editor’s note.)the way in which the ministry’s engineers implement it with our security protocols, which allows us to avoid interference. Sovereignty and security do not always completely overlap,” said the minister.
The risk of eviction
The supercomputer will thus not be connected to the Internet. And its maintenance will be ensured by French citizens, authorized to maintain national defense secrecy. So many precautions which, according to the ministry, allow confidential data to be “sovereignly” processed for the needs of armies and defense companies.
To achieve such an objective, France launched AMIAD, an agency for defense AI, which today has around a hundred engineers out of the 300 planned in the long term. Among its missions: industrialize AI-based solutions intended to be integrated into military equipment and the information systems of the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
In front of the senators, Sébastien Lecornu had hit the nail on the head. “What can set us back in terms of sovereignty is not having a supercomputer very quickly, because it is the uses that take precedence. If we delay too long, we expose ourselves to the risk of eviction”.
However, the Ministry of the Armed Forces does not intend to give up on sovereignty in the field of AI equipment. “I asked the DGA and the ministry’s services to look at how a French company as important as Atos must very quickly increase its skills to gain our sovereignty in this area,” said Sébastien Lecornu. The evaluation procedure showed that Atos’ offer was significantly inferior to that of its American competitor in all areas: performance, price, deadlines, personnel to be deployed, etc. A worrying observation for the strategic company, which already fighting for its survival.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
