France secured a record €93 billion ($108 billion) in foreign investment commitments at the 2026 Choose France summit held at the Palace of Versailles on June 1, with 71 new projects expected to create over 15,600 jobs [1, 2, 3].
The largest single commitment came from Japanese tech investor SoftBank, which pledged €45 billion to build three data centers in the Hauts-de-France region with a combined capacity of 3.1 gigawatts, scheduled for completion by 2031 [1, 4, 5]. SoftBank’s total AI infrastructure investment in France could reach €75 billion, according to summit statements [1, 6]. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said, "It's a massive size of investment coming... We can make France the centre of Europe (for AI). And Europe needs this kind of AI technology" [1].
French President Emmanuel Macron highlighted the country’s 57 nuclear reactors as a key factor powering the data centers with low-carbon electricity. He stated, "We are clearly bridging the gap we had in computing capacity in Europe" and called the summit "by far the most successful edition yet, and it is historic" [1, 4, 2]. Macron linked the surge in investment to prior tax and labor reforms and a stable ecosystem, especially France’s decarbonized nuclear industry [3].
Other notable investments include Canadian asset manager Brookfield planning a $10 billion data center in Escaudain, northern France, and French firm Ardian with Nordic data platform Verne investing $5 billion in a Paris-area data center [6, 5, 7]. Economic experts, however, cautioned that despite the massive investment pledges, overall French corporate investment remains depressed and reindustrialization goals are still more aspirational than real. Economist Sylvain Bersinger warned, "Foreign investment commitments made in Versailles must not obscure the fact that overall corporate investment in France is depressed... and France does not necessarily appear more attractive to foreign investors than neighboring countries" [5].
Since 2018, the Choose France summit has announced over 230 projects totaling about €87 billion in commitments. The 2026 total surpassed the previous record of €20 billion announced in 2025 [6, 8].
The French government also pledged an additional €1.55 billion in public investment targeting quantum technologies and semiconductors, signaling a strategic focus on advanced technologies [3].
SoftBank’s completion target for its data centers is 2031, with other projects expected to progress in coming years, sustaining momentum from the summit [1, 4, 5, 7, 3].
