SoftBank Pledges €75 Billion for AI Infrastructure in France

President Emmanuel Macron opened the annual Choose France investment summit on Monday at Versailles palace west of Paris, where foreign investors have already pledged tens of billions of dollars for artificial intelligence and data centre projects. Japanese technology investment firm SoftBank said it will spend €75 billion on artificial intelligence infrastructure.

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is scheduled to meet Macron at the Élysée Palace on Monday.

Canadian asset manager Brookfield plans to announce $10 billion of investment in a data centre in the Escaudain area of northern France. Investment firm Ardian and Nordic data platform Verne will invest $5 billion in a data centre in the Paris region.

Taiwanese group Foxconn is expected to invest €120 million in the western city of Angers for a production line for motherboards dedicated to AI, in partnership with French supercomputer specialist Bull.

The conference could also see announcements on rare earth investments in France. France has attracted the most foreign investment in Europe for seven straight years, according to the consultancy EY. EY said France attracted 852 projects last year out of 5,026 recorded in 47 European countries, even as the number of foreign investment projects in Europe fell 17 percent.

The country has attracted more projects linked to AI than anywhere else in Europe, though industry has suffered, particularly the cars, chemical and metallurgy sectors. 55 billion of public investment to develop quantum technologies and semiconductors and has stated that he wants to make France a world leader in AI.