The 9th Choose France summit racked up €93 billion in investment commitments, exceeding the cumulative sum of the previous eight events.
SoftBank's €75 billion data center plan headlines a torrent of AI-related commitments from Brookfield, MGX, Salesforce, Databricks, and Foxconn.
Residents of Bouchain, home to 4,000, are split between hope for revitalization and concern that the giant project may yield limited local employment.
As Macron's final such summit, the event underscores the pro-business policies that have positioned France as Europe's top destination for AI and data center investment.
On June 1, 2026, the gilded halls of the Palace of Versailles hosted the ninth Choose France summit, Emmanuel Macron's flagship event for courting foreign direct investment. The president arrived at 2 p.m. for bilateral talks and roundtables, culminating in 71 project announcements worth a combined €93 billion, a figure that exceeds the total of all eight previous summits, which drew €87 billion. More than 15,000 jobs are pledged across France, from data centers in the north to AI research hubs in Paris.
“This edition alone crystallizes a record €93 billion in confirmed investments for over 15,000 jobs. It's obviously a record edition and it's historic.”
The overwhelming majority of the announced capital is earmarked for artificial intelligence infrastructure. SoftBank, the Japanese technology investor, unveiled a €75 billion plan for data centers, with €45 billion committed by 2031 in the Hauts-de-France region. Its CEO Masayoshi Son called it "the largest investment in Europe in AI-related infrastructure." The project, in partnership with Schneider Electric, will deploy massive computing power, underscoring France's ambition to become Europe's AI leader.
“This is the largest investment in Europe in AI-related infrastructure.”
Beyond SoftBank, Canadian asset manager Brookfield injected an additional €10 billion into AI infrastructure, bringing its total French commitment to €30 billion. An Emirati fund, MGX, together with Bpifrance, is finalizing a second AI computing site worth approximately €7.5 billion, following the Campus AI in Fouju (Seine-et-Marne) developed with Mistral AI and Nvidia. Other tech players joined the rush: Salesforce pledged $2 billion by 2030 for a Paris-based AI hub; Databricks plans over $300 million by 2028 to expand to 400 employees and train 40,000 people; Foxconn will invest €120 million in Angers for AI motherboard production; and a consortium of Ardian and Verne unveiled a digital infrastructure campus in Ile-de-France that could reach €5 billion.
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The small northern town of Bouchain, population 4,000, is poised to host one of SoftBank's data centers. Mayor Luc Brouta welcomed the news, calling it "very positive" for employment and tax revenue. EDF's Bénédicte Lecuyer touted France's advantages: decarbonized, competitive, and available electricity. However, some residents expressed caution, questioning whether the vast industrial site would generate enough local jobs to match its scale.
“France benefits from a very favorable administration for the development of AI infrastructure.”
As President Macron's tenure nears its end, this final Choose France summit cements his pro-business pivot. He declared that the investments make France "by far the leading country in hosting data centers and AI computing capacity in Europe." The summit's record-breaking haul reinforces his administration's argument that tax reforms, labor flexibility, and energy policy have turned the country into a magnet for global tech capital.
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The ninth Choose France summit at Versailles drew over €93 billion in foreign investment commitments, with artificial intelligence data centers accounting for the bulk and promising more than 15,000 jobs.
AI text based on reports by Ouest France, France 24, Mediapart and other publishers. Published .