SoftBank Bets €75 Billion on AI Data Centers Across France
SoftBank committed €75 billion to build 5 GW of AI data center capacity across France by 2031.
"€75 billion. Five gigawatts. France just entered the AI infrastructure arms race at full speed. Masayoshi Son is not hedging."
SoftBank Group Corp. announced a €75 billion commitment to develop AI data center infrastructure in France, marking the Japanese conglomerate's largest AI infrastructure investment in Europe. Founder Masayoshi Son made the announcement on May 30 at the Choose France summit, hosted by President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. The deal signals a major geopolitical and economic bet on France as a central node in global AI infrastructure.
The first phase targets 3.1 GW of capacity in the Hauts-de-France region by 2031, requiring an initial €45 billion investment. Three sites are confirmed: Dunkirk (Loon-Plage), Bosquel, and Bouchain. SoftBank will partner with Schneider Electric in Dunkirk to establish an AI infrastructure manufacturing hub, and will collaborate with SB Energy and additional strategic partners across the project portfolio.
This announcement accelerates Europe's AI infrastructure race and positions France as a serious rival to the UK and Germany for hyperscale AI investment. For enterprises, it signals that sovereign AI capacity is becoming a national priority — and that infrastructure availability, energy access, and government partnership will define which regions lead the next decade of AI deployment.
AI compute infrastructure is becoming a geopolitical asset, and SoftBank's €75B bet signals that Europe is moving fast to build sovereign capacity. Businesses planning AI-intensive operations should monitor emerging data center hubs in France for latency, cost, and compliance advantages. This level of investment will accelerate regional AI adoption and reshape enterprise cloud and colocation strategy across Europe.
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