SoftBank Group on May 30 announced it will invest up to €75 billion to develop and operate 5 gigawatts of AI data center capacity in France, the company's largest AI infrastructure commitment in Europe and one of the continent's biggest single-country bets to date.
An initial €45B, 3.1 GW first phase
The first phase, unveiled at President Emmanuel Macron's 2026 Choose France summit, comprises a €45 billion investment to deliver 3.1 GW of AI data center capacity in the Hauts-de-France region by 2031, with sites in Dunkirk (Loon-Plage), Bosquel and Bouchain. Additional sites across France are planned to take the program to the full 5 GW.
Schneider Electric anchors the Dunkirk industrial cluster
SoftBank is partnering with French energy management group Schneider Electric to build a large-scale industrial production cluster at the Port of Dunkirk. SoftBank will operate one facility manufacturing data center enclosures while Schneider Electric will integrate prefabricated power modules, pairing SoftBank's robotics and automation capabilities with Schneider's industrial expertise and supply chain.
EDF brings sovereign low-carbon power
French utility EDF is partnering on the Bouchain data center site, with CEO Bernard Fontana flagging France's competitive, sovereign and low-carbon grid as the basis for the project. SoftBank will work with SB Energy and other strategic partners to develop the campuses, which will serve AI companies, cloud providers, enterprises, public institutions and research organizations.
Europe's AI infrastructure race heats up
The commitment intensifies a multi-hundred-billion-dollar global race for AI compute that already includes Alphabet's $80B equity raise with Berkshire Hathaway, Snowflake's $6B AWS Graviton commitment and the Anyscale on Azure public preview. "AI is entering a new era," said SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son, "and the countries that build the infrastructure for this transformation will shape the future of technology, industry and society."
Reporting based on coverage from SoftBank Group, AI Insider and HPCwire.