Masayoshi Son, founder of Japan’s SoftBank Group, has recently engaged in high-level talks with French President Emmanuel Macron regarding a potential large-scale artificial intelligence infrastructure initiative. According to multiple sources, the proposal entails SoftBank investing billions of dollars in constructing AI data centers within France, with further details expected to emerge in the coming weeks. Direct negotiation involving a head of state is uncommon for Son, prompting him to attach significant importance to advancing this project.
This collaboration stems from a meeting between Macron and Son during the French President’s recent visit to Tokyo. Both parties are inclined to make the official announcement at the Choose France Summit. Established by Macron in 2018, the summit aims to bolster France’s commercial appeal and attract foreign investment by convening global industry leaders. Should Son’s AI data center project materialize at this event, it would be regarded as a significant achievement for France’s investment attraction strategy.
Regarding the specific investment scale, insiders revealed that Son once envisioned a figure as high as $100 billion. However, the finalized amount may be adjusted based on other priority projects, suggesting the actual committed sum could fall short of initial projections. It is worth noting that Son has long been known for proposing grand blueprints in the investment sector. Although he has announced hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure deployments globally, portions of these plans remain in the conceptual stage. Consequently, the market maintains a cautious stance regarding the timely execution of this project.
As of now, neither SoftBank nor the Élysée Palace has responded to external inquiries. Should the transaction ultimately proceed, it would not only inject significant foreign capital into France’s AI infrastructure but also signal an extension of the global AI computing power competition from the Americas and Asia to Europe. For SoftBank, this represents both a new initiative to expand its AI empire and an attempt to secure policy support through direct dialogue with Western political figures.
