SoftBank has committed €75 billion to build what it says will be Europe's largest artificial intelligence facility, choosing France as the location. The pledge is one of the biggest single corporate investments in AI infrastructure and signals the company's move from investing in AI startups to owning the physical backbone of the technology.
A bet on infrastructure
The sum is unprecedented for a single AI facility. SoftBank, which already owns a significant stake in chip designer Arm and runs the $100 billion Vision Fund, is now putting money into the physical layer — data centers, power systems, and networking gear needed to train and run advanced AI models. Arm's chip designs are widely used in data center processors, giving SoftBank a potential strategic advantage in building a facility optimized for Arm-based hardware.
Why France
SoftBank did not disclose specific reasons for choosing France, but the country has been actively courting tech investment. President Emmanuel Macron's administration has offered tax incentives and streamlined permitting for large-scale industrial projects. France also benefits from a relatively low-carbon electricity grid, a key consideration for energy-hungry AI data centers that face scrutiny over their environmental impact.
What the facility will do
While SoftBank has not detailed the technical specifications, the facility is expected to house thousands of high-performance GPUs and networking infrastructure capable of training large language models and other AI systems. It will be designed to operate at a scale that currently exists only in a handful of locations, mostly in the United States and China.
The announcement comes as tech giants worldwide race to secure compute capacity. Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have all announced multibillion-dollar data center investments. SoftBank's pledge puts it in direct competition with these companies for hardware and energy resources.
The timeline
SoftBank has not announced a construction start date or when the facility will become operational. The company also hasn't said whether the €75 billion covers the entire lifecycle of the project or just the initial build-out. As planning progresses, more details on capacity, energy sources, and partners are expected to emerge. SoftBank's plan is likely to face regulatory hurdles and environmental reviews, but the company has not yet addressed those publicly.
