SoftBank bets 75bn on France to win Europe's AI race
softbank plans 5gw of ai data centers in france for 75 billion euros. this signals a massive infrastructure pivot to europe as the race for compute dominance accelerates globally.
softbank committed 75 billion euros to build 5 gigawatts of ai data centers in france, starting with 3.1gw in hauts-de-france by 2031. the investment, announced at president macron's summit, includes a manufacturing cluster with schneider electric and a partnership with startup sesterce for local 'ai factories'. this marks softbank's largest european infrastructure play, leveraging france's energy grid to bypass constraints affecting other regions. globally, softbank is simultaneously deploying capital in japan, the uk, and south korea while managing debt financing against its openai stakes. this buildout highlights the shift in ai strategy from software models to physical infrastructure dominance.