French President Emmanuel Macron has said he expects €93 billion in foreign investment to flow into the country, much of it earmarked for artificial intelligence (AI) and data centres.
The pledges were unveiled as the ninth edition of his flagship Choose France summit opened at the Palace of Versailles, near Paris. Macron said the figure would top the €87 billion raised over the previous eight years combined.
“This edition of Choose France alone will make it possible to crystallise a record amount of €93 billion in confirmed investments, for more than 15,000 jobs,” Macron said. He called it “by far a record edition” and “historic”.
The event produced 71 separate investment announcements, and Macron said France had been Europe’s leading destination for foreign investment for the seventh year running.
The totals reflect investment pledges and announcements rather than money already spent.
Macron launched the annual gathering in 2018 to court international investors. Backers credit it with softening France’s old reputation as a high-tax, rigid economy.
The largest single commitment came from Japanese technology group SoftBank, which is both an investor in and a customer of ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The firm has pledged up to €75 billion to build 5 gigawatts of AI computing capacity in France, in what it says will be its biggest such investment in Europe.
SoftBank said the first phase, worth €45 billion, would deliver 3.1 GW of capacity in the Hauts-de-France region by 2031, with sites in Dunkirk, Bosquel and Bouchain in northern France. More sites would follow across the country as demand for AI computing power grows, the company said.
Macron said the money would also go towards semiconductors, critical minerals, tractors and trucks, steel and healthcare. He said the projects would help make France “by far the leading country hosting data centres” and the home of the greatest “computing capacity in Europe”.
French economy minister Roland Lescure said the announcement showed Macron’s ambition to make France a leader “all along the AI value chain”.
The drive comes as Europe struggles to close a gap with the United States and China on AI, held back in part by high energy costs. “We are clearly in the process of closing the gap we had in terms of computing capacity in Europe,” Macron said.
