SoftBank says it will invest up to €75 billion to build French data centres.
softbank group announced today It plans to spend up to €75 billion (about $87 billion) to expand data centre capacity in France.
The goal is to develop and operate up to 5 gigawatts of additional data centre capacity, the company said. The first phase of the plan involves the construction of data centres in Dunkirk (Lune-Plage), Bosquel and Bouchain to provide 3.1 gigawatts of capacity in the Hauts-de-France region by 2031.
SoftBank, which is both an investor and customer of OpenAI, saysthe projects will be its largest AI infrastructure investment in Europe.
In a statement, French Economy Minister Roland Lescure described the announcement as “proof of President Emmanuel Macron’s ambition to establish France as a leading destination in the AI value chain”.
In the United States, opposition to data centre construction is fuelled by environmental concerns as well as questions about how data centres impact the electrical grid and utility prices. Nonetheless, SoftBank previously announced plans to build a new 9.2-gigawatt data centre powered by a natural gas plant in Ohio.
