France draws €93bn data centre investments at Choose France 2026 summit

At the Choose France 2026 summit held on 1 June 2026, a record €93 billion of AI and data‑centre projects was announced, positioning France as Europe’s leading hub for computing capacity. Major investors include Japan’s SoftBank, committing €45 billion to 2031 (potentially €75 billion total), Canada’s Brookfield with an additional €10 billion (up to €30 billion overall), the United States’ Salesforce pledging $2 billion for a Paris AI hub, and Ardian/Verne planning a €5 billion digital campus in Île‑de‑France. Amazon also revealed the creation of 1,000 permanent jobs in Derval, Pays de la Loire, for its first regional distribution centre.

The rapid expansion of data‑centre infrastructure has coincided with a sharp rise in high‑value freight thefts linked to the sector. U.S. authorities uncovered multiple stolen semi‑trailers carrying copper, server racks and other AI‑related components, each loss valued between $1 million and $5 million. Annual freight theft losses are estimated at $35 billion in the United States and €8.2 billion across the European Union. Criminal groups are increasingly employing AI tools to plan and execute these thefts, targeting the supply chain that supports the burgeoning data‑centre market.