SoftBank Group has unveiled a major infrastructure commitment to France, saying it will invest up to €75 billion to construct and operate 5 gigawatts of artificial intelligence data center capacity nationwide. The announcement was made under President Emmanuel Macron's Choose France investment initiative and sets out an initial, larger-scale first phase.
SoftBank specified that the first tranche of financing amounts to €45 billion and is earmarked to develop roughly 3.1 GW of AI-focused data center capacity in the Hauts-de-France region by 2031. The company identified Dunkirk, Bosquel and Bouchain as sites included in that first phase, and said additional locations will be added across France as demand for AI computing power increases.
According to SoftBank, the planned facilities will serve a range of customers including AI firms, cloud service providers, enterprise users and research organizations that require high-performance computing resources. The company framed the plan as a response to accelerating needs for AI compute.
In conjunction with the capacity rollout, SoftBank also announced a partnership with Schneider Electric to set up an industrial production cluster at the Port of Dunkirk. That cluster is intended to manufacture data center components and power modules, with the stated objective of reinforcing Europe’s AI infrastructure supply chain.
SoftBank said the overall program is expected to create thousands of skilled jobs and to foster research and development collaborations with French universities and engineering schools. The company positioned the project as supporting both the deployment of compute capacity and the regional manufacturing ecosystem tied to data center build-outs.
The plan lays out a multi-site build and a significant industrial component, combining large-scale capital investment with localized manufacturing at a major French port. SoftBank presented the project as both an infrastructure investment and a supply-chain initiative intended to support AI computing needs and associated industrial activity.
Context and next steps
SoftBank has described the first phase, the sites involved and the 2031 capacity target. The company also released details of the Schneider Electric collaboration focused on producing components and power systems at the Port of Dunkirk. Beyond those specifics, SoftBank indicated that capacity will expand further across France in response to demand, while highlighting the expected job creation and research partnerships tied to the initiative.