Macron Claims France Received €93bn FDI Commitment, with SoftBank Accounting for Almost Half
Taylor Wilson
France's Choose France summit landed €93 billion in investment commitments across 71 projects — with SoftBank alone pledging up to €75 billion for AI data centers, as Macron bets the country's nuclear fleet on becoming Europe's AI infrastructure hub.
What does €93 billion in one summit actually mean?
Macron announced on June 1 that this year's Choose France summit secured €93 billion (≈$108 billion) in commitments covering 71 projects and an estimated 15,600 new jobs.
This means → a single summit nearly matched last year's full-year total of €109 billion in AI investment pledges. France is pulling in foreign capital at an accelerating pace.
In plain terms = one conference almost closed as much money as the entire previous year.
What is SoftBank's €75 billion actually building?
SoftBank committed up to €75 billion to build 5 GW of AI data-center capacity in France — nearly half the summit's total.
The first phase — €45 billion — funds three data centers in northern France (Hauts-de-France) with a combined 3.1 GW capacity, targeted for completion by 2031.
In plain terms = 5 GW is roughly the output of five large nuclear reactors, all dedicated to running AI. This is not a single building — it is an industrial campus.
Where does the money come from? What did Son say?
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son told the summit: "The AI data-center investment is €75 billion, but if you include chips and systems, the total approaches $750 billion."
He added that SoftBank will not fund the entire amount alone — it will use project finance and bring in hyperscale cloud clients as co-investors.
This means → €75 billion is SoftBank's headline figure; the actual build relies on pulling in partners like Amazon and Microsoft to share the cost.
Why France? What is Macron betting on?
Macron has repeatedly marketed France's 57 nuclear reactors as a competitive edge, positioning the country as Europe's AI and data-center hub — a strategy he sums up as "plug, baby, plug."
Last year France announced €109 billion in AI investment, with roughly €50 billion from a UAE fund attracted by France's state-backed power conditions.
This reflects a clear logic: electricity is the single largest operating cost for AI data centers → whoever offers cheap, stable power wins this wave of infrastructure spending. France's nuclear fleet is exactly that card.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.