Held this Monday amid the splendor of the Palace of Versailles, the Choose France summit lived up to all expectations, with €93 billion in investments announced, representing the creation of more than 15,000 jobs.
This is a “record,” according to President Emmanuel Macron, as the cumulative commitments from the first eight editions of this event dedicated to foreign investment had reached “only” €87 billion.
As exemplified by the project announced by Ardian and Verne in Île-de-France — detailed in recent hours by Business Immo — AI and data centers are the focal points of investment. Japanese giant SoftBank has announced a €75 billion investment package— including €45 billion by 2031 — in the Hauts-de-France region for the construction of data centers, representing “the largest investment in Europe in artificial intelligence-related infrastructure,” according to its CEO, Masayoshi Son.
Canadian asset manager Brookfield is not to be outdone: it will invest an additional €10 billion in AI-related infrastructure in France, bringing the total to up to €30 billion. The Emirati fund MGX and Bpifrance, for their part, have announced “the imminent selection of a second site” to build AI-related infrastructure, representing “an investment of approximately €7.5 billion.”
And it doesn’t stop there: Salesforce is planning a $2 billion investment in France by 2030 in an AI hub in Paris and to support initiatives focused on education and skills development in AI; Databricks, another U.S. company, says it plans to invest more than $300 million by 2028 to expand its teams in France to over 400 employees and train more than 40,000 people in the use of AI tools over the next three years; Foxconn, a Taiwanese group, is expected to invest €120 million, primarily in Angers, to launch production lines for servers and data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence, in partnership with the French supercomputer specialist Bull.
Amazon has big plans
In this race for growth, Amazon stands out. The e-commerce giant, which unveiled a three-year investment plan worth over €15 billion in early May, has announced three additional logistics sites expected to create 1,000 jobs, on top of the 7,000 already promised. The American group plans to build new distribution centers, expand its cloud and AI operations and consolidate its existing network.
VGP, a Belgian developer and manager of industrial and business parks, reports an “investment of over €1.5 billion, enabling “the creation of 5,000 jobs” over six years. Emmanuel Macron welcomed this on the social media platform X: “VGP chooses France. Over €1.5 billion invested to develop high-quality business parks serving industry, logistics, and the semi-industrial sector. A strong and lasting commitment to the country’s attractiveness and reindustrialization.”
For its part, DHL is planning a future investment of €160 million to “strengthen the group’s operational capabilities across all its activities in France.”