PARIS, May 30 (Reuters) – Japan’s SoftBank Group plans to invest 45 billion euros over the next five years to build out artificial intelligence infrastructure in France, founder Masayoshi Son said in an interview with Saturday’s La Tribune Dimanche newspaper.
Son said the investment, which is said to be the largest of its kind in Europe to date, will take place in the northern Hauts-de-France region. The total amount SoftBank plans to invest in France will reach 75 billion euros, Son said.
The investment plan will be formally announced at the annual business conference “Choose France” on Monday.
According to La Tribune Dimanche, the two data center sites in Le Bosquer and Dunkirk are scheduled to come online in 2028 and 2031, respectively, and together offer more than 5 gigawatts of computing capacity.
Asked why he chose France, Son said: “The fact that this country is a producer and exporter of energy is absolutely decisive for investing in AI infrastructure.”
France’s involvement will further accelerate SoftBank’s global AI infrastructure investment. Our AI investments include a previous investment of more than $30 billion in OpenAI, in which we own approximately 11% of the stock.
France has used the “Choose France” summit to court foreign investors since it was launched by President Emmanuel Macron in 2018.
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
