SoftBank's Son moves to address AI power gap through major France data centres
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son announced a $75 billion data centre investment in France to address rising electricity demand from artificial intelligence. The first phase covers two sites in Lyon and Marseille totalling 2 GW of capacity. The joint announcement with French President Macron confirmed an EDF nuclear-power partnership.
Nikkei Asia · Staff WriterSoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son, in a joint announcement with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace, unveiled a $75 billion investment in data centres in France. According to Nikkei Asia, the project targets 5 GW of capacity for AI training and inference, drawing power equivalent to roughly 3 million households.
Macron called it 'a cornerstone for European AI sovereignty', while Son said 'France's nuclear-power infrastructure is the building block of this priority investment'. The first phase covers two sites in Lyon and Marseille, with the total 2 GW capacity to come online by end-2027. EDF CEO Luc Rémont said 'long-term offtake agreements are in final negotiation'; EDF shares rose 4.2% on the Paris exchange after the news.
Vision Fund partner Mubadala and Singapore's GIC confirmed their participation; Norway's sovereign wealth fund Norges Bank Investment Management director Nicolai Tangen said 'energy-focused capital deployment is the logical target'. Stargate US project architect Sam Altman said 'the European extension completes a global compute bridge'. Greenpeace France senior analyst Clément Sénéchal said 'the cooling-water impact must be independently verified'. This report does not constitute investment advice.
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