SoftBank says it will invest up to €75 billion to build French data centers
SoftBank Group has announced plans to invest up to €75 billion to expand data center capacity in France. The investment aims to develop and operate an additional 5 gigawatts of capacity, with the first phase focusing on locations in Dunkirk, Bosquel, and Bouchain. This move is seen as a significant step in positioning France as a leader in the AI infrastructure sector.
- ▪SoftBank plans to invest up to €75 billion to build data centers in France.
- ▪The investment will focus on developing 5 gigawatts of additional data center capacity.
- ▪The first phase includes building data centers in Dunkirk, Bosquel, and Bouchain.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
In Brief Posted: 2:45 PM PDT · May 30, 2026 Image Credits:Ulysse BELLIER / AFP / Getty Images Anthony Ha SoftBank says it will invest up to €75 billion to build French data centers SoftBank Group announced today that it plans to spend up to €75 billion (around $87 billion) to expand data center capacity in France. The goal, the firm said, is to develop and operate up to 5 gigawatts of additional data center capacity. The first phase of the plan involves building data centers in Dunkirk (Loon-Plage), Bosquel, and Bouchain to deliver 3.1 gigawatts of capacity to the Hauts-de-France region by 2031. SoftBank, which is both an investor in and customer of OpenAI, says this will be its largest AI infrastructure investment in Europe.
…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at TechCrunch.
Discussion
0 commentsMore from TechCrunch
