Atos -- which runs supercomputers for France's nuclear deterrent, holds contracts with the French army and is the IT partner for this year's Paris Olympics -- is sagging under almost five billion euros ($5.4 billion) of debt.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire announced on Sunday that he had sent a non-binding letter of intent to acquire the "sovereign activities" of Atos to prevent them from "falling under the ownership of foreign actors".

The activities include supercomputers, servers using artificial intelligence and quantic computing, and cybersecurity products.

"The (Atos) group welcomes this letter of intent, which would protect the sovereign strategic imperatives of the French state," the company said on Monday.

Atos said the proposal values the businesses at between 700 million and one billion euros.

Le Maire's announcement sent shares in Atos surging 14 percent after the Paris stock exchange opened.

They have tumbled by 70 percent since the start of the year.

Atos said it now needs 1.1 billion euros in cash "to fund the business over the 2024-25 period", up from a previous estimate of 600 million euros.

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Atos