SoftBank Group has announced plans to invest up to €75 billion—roughly $87 billion—to develop and operate 5 gigawatts of AI data center capacity in France, marking its largest AI infrastructure commitment in Europe. The investment, unveiled at the 2026 Choose France summit, includes a €45 billion initial phase to bring 3.1 GW of data center capacity online in the Hauts-de-France region by the end of 2031. Sites are planned for Dunkirk (Loon-Plage), Bosquel, and Bouchain, with additional locations across France.
Key Details:
- SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son signed the commitment alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, suggesting the total investment could reach $750 billion when broader systems are factored in.
- Major cloud providers are among the venture's customers, with SoftBank pooling project financing to fund the effort.
- A large-scale industrial production cluster will be developed at the Port of Dunkirk in partnership with French engineering firm Schneider Electric, including facilities for manufacturing enclosures and integrating data center power modules.
- French state-owned nuclear utility EDF is involved, with a decommissioned power plant in Bouchain set to be repurposed as a data center.
- The data centers will serve AI companies, cloud providers, enterprises, public institutions, and research organizations, leveraging France's grid infrastructure and industrial land availability.
Broader Context:
SoftBank's investment is part of a global AI infrastructure spending spree, including a $30 billion investment in OpenAI and the $500 billion Stargate project in the U.S. Son emphasized the AI revolution's scale, comparing it to the dot-com boom and predicting it will be 50 times larger. He also highlighted the need for Europe to catch up with the U.S. and China in AI computing capacity.
The announcement comes as France seeks to position itself as a global AI leader, with Macron leveraging the country's nuclear production capacity to attract foreign investment. The €93 billion ($108 billion) in total pledges at the summit is expected to create over 15,600 jobs, addressing France's unemployment rate, which remains above the EU average.