SoftBank has said it will invest €75 billion to build a French data center

SoftBank Group announced today that it plans to spend €75 billion (about $87 billion) to expand the data base in France.

The goal, the company said, is to create and use 5 gigawatts of additional data center capacity. The first phase of the plan includes the construction of data centers in Dunkirk (Loon-Plage), Bosquel, and Bouchain to provide 3.1 gigawatts to the Hauts-de-France region by 2031.

SoftBank, which is both investor and customer of OpenAIIt says this will be its biggest AI investment in Europe.

In a statement, French finance minister Roland Lescure described the announcement as “an expression of President Emmanuel Macron’s desire to position France as a leading place in all aspects of AI”.

In the United States, The debate over data center infrastructure is heating up on environmental concerns, and questions about how data centers affect the power grid and utility rates. However, SoftBank previously announced plans to build a data center in Ohio, powered by a new 9.2 gigawatt natural gas plant.