SoftBank Group announced plans to invest up to €75 billion — roughly $87 billion — to develop and operate 5 gigawatts of AI data center capacity in France, marking the company's largest AI infrastructure commitment in Europe.
Under the first phase, SoftBank has earmarked €45 billion to bring 3.1 GW of data center capacity online in the Hauts-de-France region before the end of 2031, the company said. Sites are planned for Dunkirk (Loon-Plage), Bosquel, and Bouchain. Additional sites across France are planned as part of the broader buildout.
At a Monday press briefing alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, Son put his signature on the €75 billion commitment and suggested the total figure balloons to roughly $750 billion once the broader system is factored in, CNBC reported. Son noted that major cloud providers are among the venture's customers and that SoftBank is pooling project financing to fund the effort.
A large-scale industrial production cluster at the Port of Dunkirk will be developed jointly with French engineering firm Schneider Electric, SoftBank said. The cluster will include two facilities: one operated by SoftBank Group to manufacture enclosures, and one operated by Schneider Electric to integrate data center power modules, the company said.
French state-owned nuclear utility EDF has a role in the project as well, with a decommissioned power plant in Bouchain set to be transferred to SoftBank and repurposed as a data center, Reuters reported.
The announcement was made as part of the 2026 Choose France summit, an annual investment conference hosted by President Macron. "AI is entering a new era, and the countries that build the infrastructure for this transformation will shape the future of technology, industry and society," Son said in a statement.
SoftBank said the data centers will serve AI companies, cloud providers, enterprises, public institutions, and research organizations. The company cited France's grid infrastructure, industrial land availability, and engineering talent as factors in its decision.
Shares of SoftBank jumped 14% on Monday and are up over 70% on the year, CNBC noted. Beyond the France deal, the company has funneled upward of $30 billion into OpenAI and counts an ownership stake in Arm Holdings — whose processor architectures underpin AI server infrastructure — among its key AI-linked assets.