TL;DR
SoftBank will invest up to €75B ($87B) for 5 GW of AI data centres in France. The first phase delivers 3.1 GW by 2031 for €45B.
SoftBank plans to invest as much as €75 billion ($87 billion) to build 5 gigawatts of AI data centre capacity in France. It is the Japanese conglomerate’s biggest AI infrastructure commitment in Europe. CEO Masayoshi Son and President Emmanuel Macron are expected to formally announce the deal at the Choose France Summit this weekend.
The first phase comprises €45 billion to deliver 3.1 gigawatts across three sites in the Hauts-de-France region by 2031: Dunkirk, Bosquel, and Bouchain. Schneider Electric will be a strategic partner at the Dunkirk site, creating a hub for AI infrastructure and robotics manufacturing positioned to serve London, Brussels, and Amsterdam.
The investment reflects personal diplomacy. Son was “very impressed by the fact that Emmanuel Macron is so personally committed to ensuring France’s economic success,” he told La Tribune. Macron approached Son directly during a visit to Japan earlier this year. Son, accustomed to fielding inquiries from corporate leaders, was intrigued by an approach from a head of state.
Bloomberg had previously reported that Son floated the idea of investing as much as $100 billion in France. The confirmed figure of €75 billion is smaller but still represents one of the largest single infrastructure commitments any country has received for AI.
The French plan adds to an extraordinary run of SoftBank AI infrastructure commitments. In March, the company announced a large-scale data centre project in Ohio that could channel $500 billion to install 10 gigawatts of capacity. That project would be powered by roughly $33 billion worth of natural gas-fired electricity.
SoftBank is also a partner in the $500 billion Stargate initiative with OpenAI, Oracle, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX to build data centres across the US. It has separately committed more than $60 billion to OpenAI for a roughly 13% stake. The cumulative scale of these commitments raises questions about financing.
SoftBank scaled back plans for a $10 billion margin loan backed by its OpenAI stake after facing hesitation from some creditors, Bloomberg reported. The company and its bankers have discussed targeting as low as $6 billion. Whether Son can tap enough capital to deliver on all of his AI ambitions simultaneously is the question investors are watching most closely.
The energy economics of European AI data centres are challenging. OpenAI paused its Stargate UK project over industrial electricity costs that run at more than four times US rates. France offers a structural advantage: its electricity grid is approximately 70% nuclear-powered, providing low-carbon baseload capacity that most European countries cannot match.
The Gulf’s AI data centre ambitions have been disrupted by war. Oil is at $100, the Strait of Hormuz is closed, and investment decisions are pausing. France’s political stability and nuclear energy base position it as a lower-risk alternative for AI infrastructure investment that might otherwise flow to the Middle East.
Macron has championed sovereign AI as a policy priority, arguing that countries beyond the US and China must build their own infrastructure to control their data and technology. France has backed Mistral AI, the Paris-based foundation model company that reached $300 million ARR earlier this year. SoftBank’s commitment validates the sovereign AI thesis at a scale that no European government initiative has matched.
The energy source matters. SoftBank’s Ohio project runs on natural gas. xAI is spending $2.8 billion on gas turbines. France’s nuclear grid means SoftBank’s French data centres could operate on substantially lower-carbon power than its American equivalents. For Macron, that is both a climate argument and a competitive one.
The Choose France Summit is Macron’s annual showcase for attracting foreign investment. Previous editions have produced commitments from Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. SoftBank’s €75 billion dwarfs them all. Whether the money arrives at the scale and pace announced is the test that every infrastructure megaproject faces. Son’s track record on vision is extraordinary. His track record on execution is more complicated. France is betting that this time, the cheque clears.
