Macron Bags Record €93B 'Choose France' Total as SoftBank Pledges Billions for AI Hub

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:01:25][applause] >> And then he has asked me, "Masa, can you do something in France? Choose France.

[00:01:52]Okay? For your expansion of uh, business and technology, especially AI data center, uh, can use, uh, our power in France.

[00:02:05]I said, "Okay, if you have power, we can make AI data center."

[00:02:11]And, uh, he asked me, "Masayoshi, are you quick?"

[00:02:16]I said, "I am quick."

[00:02:20]Because he asked me, uh, because there's a event in, uh, June 1st, uh, Choose France event. It's only 2 months.

[00:02:30]Uh, so can you, uh, make it happen? Can we announce something in, uh, June 1st?

[00:02:37]I said, "Okay, I will try."

[00:02:40]And I would Uh, he's he asked me, "How much can you do?" I said, "I can try for 2 gigawatts."

[00:02:48]And, uh, uh, but I need your support. Uh, so he said, "Yeah, okay.

[00:02:56]Uh, let's do it together.

[00:02:58]Your team, our team, work together to find the locations, to find all the conditions, and then, uh, we make it happen."

[00:03:09]And then, uh, we exchange the, uh, text and say, "Maybe I can go for challenge for 5 gigawatt."

[00:03:21]In 2 months, we actually, uh, identify, committed, and, uh, make a specific uh, site uh, already secured for 3 gigawatts.

[00:03:34]And then, we are now evaluating additional 3 gigawatts.

[00:03:39]So, we are going to commit to deliver 5 gigawatts, which is largest scale uh, in Europe, which is, uh, 75 billion euro in the size of investment for the AI data center.

[00:04:00]But, if you include the chip and system, it's going to be close to uh 750 billion dollars in the size of US dollars. I have to convert into euro, but it's it's a massive size of investment coming.

[00:04:26]SoftBank do not put all of the money.

[00:04:28]We are aggregating.

[00:04:31]We do the project financing because we have hyper scalar as our customer.

[00:04:39]So, even though the size of the investment is big, it's a growing industry with lots of demand so that this scale can be achieved.

[00:04:53]We are doing that in the US already. We are expanding a lot in US. So, we have the model, we have the momentum, which we can make France the center of Europe, and Europe need uh this kind of AI technology.

[00:05:14]I get amazed every time I come to Europe.

[00:05:18]The last thousands of years of civilization uh centered in Europe.

[00:05:26]I think people discuss whether AI is good, robotics by AI is good or bad for humanity.

[00:05:37]I said, "Every time civilization comes, the society lifestyle change, the job change.

[00:05:44]But, if you avoid the speed and the wave of civilization, your country would be left out.

[00:05:55]There's no choice. US is going fast.

[00:05:58]China is going fast.

[00:06:00]Europe, Japan, Asia have to also go fast not to be left out.

[00:06:07]This is a national security.

[00:06:10]France has been uh exporting electricity power.

[00:06:16]Now, not just exporting, continue to export electricity power, we can make convert electricity as a raw material into more high-valued intelligence.

[00:06:31]So, France can export intelligence.

[00:06:37]Not just a power export, export intelligence, which is made by power.

[00:06:45]Initiated by power.

[00:06:47]More value-added export.

[00:06:50]AI utilizing robots. AI robots, France can be We discussed in the morning.

[00:06:58]Uh President Macron has a passion with the AI robot.

[00:07:03]I said, "Okay.

[00:07:04]Maybe we can make France the center of AI robots exporting, manufacturing, creating factory here in France."

[00:07:18]This is all for the civilization of next thousand years.

[00:07:26]France, Europe have to have a momentum, a powerful engine for the growth of next civilization.

[00:07:38]Thank you very much.

[00:07:40]>> [applause] >> Thank you. Thank you very much, Masa. I I I really appreciate it and let me say a few words in English before shifting to French.

[00:07:52]Uh we are we are extremely happy as you perfectly uh uh made it right now. We we met beginning of April 1st uh in Japan during my state visit and we had this this first discussion and uh we we clearly wanted to to make progress with you and deliver concrete results.

[00:08:14]And you were extremely as always direct, ambitious, aggressive in the in the right sense of the world. And uh and uh like a challenge, I just asked Masa, "Okay, how fast are you? Are you sure that you can deliver for 1st of June?"

[00:08:29]We will do whatever we can.

[00:08:32]And and we did it. And I want to thank you personally, uh your team and our teams because you you worked very closely together and uh and it's a wonderful achievement.

[00:08:43]So, indeed, we already secured between Dunkirk, Bosquet, and Douchainstreet different sites. And uh and we have a um uh clearly the equivalent already secured of 3 GW, which makes, roughly speaking, 45 billions already secured in terms of investment. And you want to go to five and we identified, obviously, uh the additional sites, which will make the 75 billions you you mentioned and you expressed.

[00:09:11]And on top So, for us, it's a great achievement because you are a very respected uh partner, very well known, and we transform available energy in data centers, in computing capacities for everybody in the world, but we are clearly bridging the gap we had in computing capacities in the in Europe. And today, this morning at the Elysée, I signed this partnership with the Schneider, which will allow us collectively to even add more value to this project by this common factory in Dunkirk, where on on AI robotics and AI capacities, you will create together more added value. So, it's a it's for us a great achievement.

[00:09:58]And on top of that, we discussed this morning with Massa together and our teams how to precisely make a additional data centers in France, and we identified all the potential sites, and as well how to create more more value together, meaning how to be more present on AI robotics, where Massa is a great player, and and we have our our road map, and we want to double down.

[00:10:26]So, it's a great achievement. So, I want to thank thank you personally for your commitment and for this great announcement this morning. Now, allow me to shift to French, and you have a translator.

[00:10:40]>> Ladies and gentlemen, as you have heard, this is a great source of pride for us.

[00:10:51]Moringa, this morning's announcement is therefore a source of immense pride, and it comes as part of the ninth edition of Choose France.

[00:11:01]For 9 years now, we have been holding these events in Versailles to promote the attractiveness of our country. I had the opportunity to say this last week.

[00:11:11]This is also what has allowed us to explain to the world, to mobilize international investment, and to make France for the past 7 years, without interruption, the most attractive country in Europe.

[00:11:25]During these last 7 years, France has been the country in Europe that has attracted the most foreign investment.

[00:11:32]This is the result of collective work of the reforms we have implemented in the areas of taxation and labor law, of the pro-innovation policy we have pursued, and also of the mobilization of all our teams.

[00:11:47]I want to thank my team, the ministers, Business France, the DGE at Bercy, and also all the local authorities because this is also a mobilization of all our regions.

[00:12:00]In recent editions of Choose France, we have mobilized 87 billion dollars in confirmed and delivered foreign investment, creating more than 50,000 jobs across all our regions, with many of these investments being deployed in towns with fewer than 30,000 inhabitants.

[00:12:19]Just a few days ago, I was near Châteaudun, visiting one of Four Verts' sites, which perfectly illustrates the scale of these investments. Today in Versailles, where we'll be joining them in a few moments, 71 new investments have been announced.

[00:12:35]This edition of Choose France alone will bring together a record 93 billion dollars in confirmed investments, representing over 15,000 jobs.

[00:12:46]This is clearly a record-breaking edition and a historic one.

[00:12:50]This represents 93 billion dollars in investments in data centers and AI, of course, and the announcement made by Mazda and SoftBank accounts for nearly half of that amount with the 45 billion dollars already confirmed.

[00:13:06]We haven't included all the upcoming investments. So, in addition to these 45 billion dollars, as you understand, there's the remainder to reach a total of 75 billion dollars in the coming years.

[00:13:20]But beyond SoftBank's 45 billion dollars, there are indeed other projects in artificial intelligence, data centers, and also strategic projects for our independence in semiconductors, critical minerals, the electrification of tractors and trucks, steel, and health care.

[00:13:40]These 93 billion euros of foreign investment in our country are concrete proof of France's attractiveness for the seventh consecutive year as the leading destination for foreign investment in Europe.

[00:13:53]This achievement is the culmination of years of effort, which we are also supporting with an acceleration and simplification of our European agenda, including in the areas of innovation, and an acceleration of major French projects such as the Notre Dame method and the Investments for the Future program for 2030.

[00:14:14]The announcement made by SoftBank today is therefore massive and historic.

[00:14:19]It represents 45 billion euros of confirmed investment in France, which we have built in just 2 months thanks to readily available energy and all the work done with the French nuclear sector, which has allowed us to export more than 90 TWh over the past 2 years.

[00:14:37]It is also thanks to the extensive mobilization and site preparation efforts with local authorities and RTE, the French electricity transmission network operator, to ensure these sites are connected to the grid as quickly as possible.

[00:14:53]So, the Boscal, Dunkirk, and Bouchen sites are slated to receive SoftBank's investments.

[00:15:00]These investments are confirmed, and as I mentioned earlier in my introduction, these 3 GW are guaranteed and firm just like the co-investment with Schneider in Dunkirk.

[00:15:11]This allows us to secure these 45 billion euros in investments, and this will enable us to begin work in the coming months since our Our is to finalize everything between the end of 2029 and mid-2030 for these sites so that production can be fully operational by the end of 2030.

[00:15:31]This therefore represents an increase in added value for the country.

[00:15:36]Beyond these 45 billion euros, other sites have been identified to accommodate SoftBank's planned 75 billion euro investment in data centers in France.

[00:15:48]And we have also identified new projects to produce robots in our country and continue innovation. But on that point, true to the approach we've taken these past few months, I won't say anymore.

[00:16:01]We've approached things with great ambition, with the desire to move quickly, but we only announce when things are certain. And that's what we did today.

[00:16:10]In any case, this is a very important day for France, for this partnership with SoftBank, since both the data centers and the partnership with Schneider will allow us to move forward much more rapidly, to make France your leading investment country, to make France by far the leading country in Europe for hosting data centers and computing capacity, and to make France also the cutting edge in AI robot production and AI-driven industrialization thanks to this partnership with Schneider.

[00:16:41]Thank you for your attention, ladies and gentlemen.

[00:16:44]>> And let me finish by saying this person what to myself. Thank you very much for your commitment, your ambition, and uh the fact that you delivered in such a few weeks' time.

[00:16:58]It means a lot to us in terms of trust and capacity of execution, so you can count on us in order to follow up and do very big things together. Thank you, Mr. >> Thank you. Thank you so much.

[00:17:12]>> [applause] >> Thank you so much.

[00:17:15]>> Merci, mesdames et messieurs.

[00:17:16]>> [applause] >> Et bravo aussi, bravo.