THE TRUTH
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SoftBank has pledged €75 billion to build Europe’s largest AI data center network in France, backing a project that will consume the equivalent of five nuclear power stations. For Emmanuel Macron, it is a victory for the industrial policy his presidency has been building towards. For Masayoshi Son, it’s the next brick in the world’s AI infrastructure empire. In Europe, the first serious answer for years to look at the US, China, and the corner of the Middle East is the hyperscale data center market.
HOW IS IT?
The agreement came together with unusual speed following a dinner in Tokyo in early April between Macron and Son, where the French president laid out his country’s structural advantages: more low-carbon nuclear power and fast-tracked administrative approvals for the installation of AI. The son, apparently, found the pitch appropriate.
Deployment begins with €45 billion to build 3.1 gigawatts of data center capacity in the Hauts-de-France region by 2031, with plans to expand by an additional 2GW. The main center in Dunkirk will combine AI infrastructure with robotics manufacturing in collaboration with Schneider Electric, which is located in the business customer service center in London, Brussels, and Amsterdam. The full construction of 5GW has a total cost of 75 billion euros, or about 87 billion dollars. European technology stocks reacted quickly, with the Stoxx Europe technology index jumping 1.4% to levels not seen since September 2020.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
Europe has spent years watching AI infrastructure flee to low-cost, low-regulation areas while its energy bills and grid delays make hyperscale investments economically unattractive. France’s nuclear grid is changing that equation. SoftBank is betting that stable, low-carbon baseload power is a rare resource in AI architecture, and France has more of it than anywhere else in Europe.
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For Son, this is part of a broader infrastructure pivot. SoftBank has already committed more than $60 billion to OpenAI, is planning a public listing of its robotics unit, and owns Arm Holdings as its semiconductor crown jewel. The French project is getting into the strategy of owning the virtual layer of the AI supply chain before anyone can lock it down.
The market reaction suggests that investors believe him. Aixtron is up 240% this year. STMicroelectronics is up 170%. SAP jumped 8.8% in one session after Jensen Huang assured the market that business software will be augmented rather than replaced by productive AI. The European tech trades at 28 times expected earnings compared to 35 times the Nasdaq, a valuation gap that made SoftBank’s commitment all the more interesting.
