SoftBank to Invest €75 Billion in France’s AI Data Centers
SoftBank Group has announced a commitment to develop and operate five gigawatts of AI data center capacity in France, with an investment of up to 75 billion euros, or about $87.5 billion. The deal, described by SoftBank as its largest AI infrastructure investment in Europe, was unveiled ahead of the annual Choose France summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son confirmed the figures in an interview with French weekly La Tribune Dimanche, calling it the largest investment in Europe in infrastructure related to artificial intelligence. The announcement marks a defining moment in Europe’s race to secure the compute and energy resources powering the next generation of AI systems.
A Deal Born from Presidential Diplomacy
The commitment reflects personal diplomacy between Macron and Son, who met during the French president’s visit to Japan earlier this year. France’s energy position proved decisive. Son said the country’s status as an energy producer and exporter was absolutely crucial for AI infrastructure investments, particularly for data centers.
The first phase of the plan involves building data centers in Dunkirk, Bosquel, and Bouchain to deliver 3.1 gigawatts of capacity to the Hauts-de-France region by 2031, representing an initial outlay of €45 billion.
The plan also includes a partnership with Schneider Electric to create a large-scale industrial production cluster at the Port of Dunkirk, combining SoftBank’s robotics and automation capabilities with Schneider’s energy technology and local supply chain. Schneider Electric CEO Olivier Blum described it as the largest project ever undertaken in France in the sector.
The SoftBank €75 billion AI data center investment France follows the Japanese giant’s announcement in March of a potential $500 billion data center project in Ohio, underscoring the global scale of its AI infrastructure ambitions. SoftBank, which is both an investor in and customer of OpenAI, says this commitment is its largest AI infrastructure investment in Europe to date.
That’s a huge investment! Wonder how this will affect the tech scene in France.