France has bagged more than €110bn in proposed AI and data centre investments, but its grid and the fact that French people will protest anything may still spoil the party.
According to the Financial Times, the plans, waved around President Emmanuel Macron’s Choose France investment summit, include a €75bn pledge from Japan’s SoftBank.
If the projects actually happen, France’s data centre capacity would be multiplied several times. But investors, energy outfits and developers said the whole shebang depends on faster approvals, quicker grid access and less bureaucratic treacle.
The commitments amount to about 10 gigawatts of extra computing capacity, roughly the output of 10 nuclear reactors. Canada’s Brookfield, France’s Ardian, Abu Dhabi-backed MGX and US software group Salesforce are in the mix, alongside SoftBank’s planned AI computing clusters.
France had about 1.5GW of installed data centre capacity at the end of 2025, according to Schneider Electric, which is working with SoftBank. That makes the latest investment splurge look like a monster bet on France’s nuclear fleet and its bid to become Europe’s AI shed.
Executives involved warned that press releases will not magically turn into humming server farms without permits, grid connections and local approvals moving faster. The French government, EDF and grid operator RTE have cooked up measures to speed projects by offering former industrial sites with power infrastructure already in place.
The centrepiece is a bunch of fast-track sites on former industrial land, where investors can dodge some of the usual energy-hungry planning faff. Schneider Electric head of Europe Laurent Bataille said one SoftBank site sits beside a former EDF coal and gas-fired power station, with a high-voltage grid connection ready to use.
SoftBank wants the first €45bn phase of its investment, spread across three sites, running by 2031.
There are still doubts about whether SoftBank will spend the full €75bn, given the scale, funding gaps and long timelines. Brookfield Asset Management head of AI infrastructure Sikander Rashid said its northern France project would not receive its first power load until 2029.
“Building out AI infrastructure in France is not the same for everyone,” Rashid said.
Power industry executives said grid connections can still drag on where new transmission lines must cross roads, farmland or residential areas. Telehouse head in France Sami Slim said a €1bn expansion announced in 2024 is roughly two years late because of administrative hurdles.
“Nuclear energy production is plentiful but not everything has an easy grid connection; it can take eight years. And as soon as local prefects get involved with permitting, it can get complicated,” Slim told the FT.
A new law passed last month should simplify authorisations and reduce legal challenges, but investors are still leaning on Macron’s office and its so-called Notre-Dame method.
“If that method is maintained and becomes a Macron legacy, it can be an incredible lever,” Slim said.
