Europe just landed one of the largest single data center commitments yet.
SoftBank Group said it will build a 5-gigawatt AI data center in northern France, an investment the company put at up to €75 billion (about $85 billion). The first phase is slated to deliver roughly 3.1 gigawatts of capacity, putting the campus among the most ambitious AI sites announced anywhere.
Inside the SoftBank Deal
The plan fits SoftBank’s push to own AI infrastructure end to end, from chips to the buildings that house them. France offers a rare draw for a project this size: a low-carbon grid heavy on nuclear, which gives a 5 GW load a shot at clean, steady power that’s hard to find elsewhere in Europe.
A Continental Power Bet
Five gigawatts is a staggering number for one campus, more than many national grids can spare on short notice. Delivering it means new substations, transmission and likely on-site generation, plus a construction program that runs for years and leans on European civil and electrical contractors at scale.
What It Signals
The announcement lands as U.S. hyperscalers keep stacking gigawatts of their own, like Meta’s Prometheus supercluster in Ohio. The AI buildout has gone global and grid-first: whoever delivers firm power fastest gets the campus. France is betting its reactors are the edge.
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