SoftBank Announces €75 Billion Investment to Expand French AI Infrastructure

SoftBank Group has unveiled an ambitious plan to invest up to €75 billion (approximately $87 billion) to significantly bolster data center capacity in France. The initiative aims to develop 5 gigawatts of new infrastructure, with the initial phase focusing on the Hauts-de-France region. By 2031, the company expects to bring 3.1 gigawatts of capacity online across sites in Dunkirk, Bosquel, and Bouchain, marking SoftBank’s most substantial commitment to European AI infrastructure to date.

This investment aligns with the French government’s broader strategy to establish the nation as a primary hub for the artificial intelligence value chain. French economic minister Roland Lescure highlighted the project as a validation of President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to attract large-scale technology capital. For SoftBank, which maintains deep ties to the AI sector as both a major investor in and a client of OpenAI, this move represents a strategic pivot toward securing the physical hardware foundations necessary to support future generative AI workloads.

The scale of this project is particularly notable given the growing global scrutiny surrounding the environmental and infrastructural impact of data centers. While similar developments in the United States have faced significant pushback regarding grid stability and rising utility costs, SoftBank’s French expansion suggests a coordinated effort to integrate massive computing power into the European market. By securing such a massive footprint, SoftBank is positioning itself as a critical gatekeeper in the AI ecosystem, ensuring that the necessary compute resources are available to meet the surging demand for high-performance processing.