{"id":56614,"date":"2026-05-31T05:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T05:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/56614\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T05:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T05:45:11","slug":"after-openai-softbank-plans-investment-in-french-ai-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/56614\/","title":{"rendered":"After OpenAI, SoftBank plans investment in French AI centers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/japan-softbank.jpg\" alt=\"After OpenAI, SoftBank plans investment in French AI centers\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/> Japanese tech giant SoftBank Group has announced a massive plan to invest up to \u20ac75 billion (approx $87 billion) to build artificial intelligence (AI) data centres in France. The move highlights France&#8217;s growing reputation as Europe\u2019s top destination for next-generation tech infrastructure.. The announcement follows SoftBank\u2019s recent major financial commitments in the US, including a massive 13% stake in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.According to a company statement released Saturday, SoftBank\u2019s European project will roll out in phases to eventually deliver 5 gigawatts of computing power. In the first phase, SoftBank will invest an initial \u20ac45 billion to build 3.1 gigawatts of data centre capacity in the Hauts-de-France region, with a target completion date of 2031. The first centers will be built in the French towns of Dunkirk, Bosquel and Bouchain, with more sites planned across the country later.&#8221;The commitment marks SoftBank Group\u2019s largest AI infrastructure investments in Europe. It is designed to support the rapid growth of artificial intelligence by expanding access to high-performance compute capacity in France,&#8221; the company said.Notably, French industrial giant Schneider Electric SE has already signed on as a partner for the Dunkirk site. The goal is to build a hub for AI and robotics manufacturing that can easily serve major tech markets in nearby London, Brussels, and Amsterdam.<\/p>\n<p>SoftBank\u2019s global AI ambitions<\/p>\n<p>The French expansion is part of a global spending spree by Masayoshi Son to secure the massive computing power needed to fuel the AI boom. SoftBank&#8217;s current portfolio includes the Stargate Initiative, which is a $500 billion project in the US built in partnership with OpenAI, Oracle, and Abu Dhabi\u2019s MGX. There is also an Ohio Project, a separate $500 billion data centre complex in Ohio aiming for 10 gigawatts of capacity powered by natural gas, followed by more than $60 billion investment directly into OpenAI.By building its own data centres in Europe, SoftBank hopes to diversify its AI revenue streams beyond its standard partnerships with ChatGPT. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japanese tech giant SoftBank Group has announced a massive plan to invest up to \u20ac75 billion (approx $87&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[12689,32999,33002,33003,33001,33000,157,13960,32998],"class_list":["post-56614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-openai","tag-ai-computing-power","tag-ai-data-centers-france","tag-emmanuel-macron-softbank","tag-european-ai-strategy","tag-france-tech-investment","tag-masayoshi-son-ai-infrastructure","tag-openai","tag-openai-partnership","tag-softbank-investment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}