Story perspectives

SoftBank invests €75bn, partners Schneider on French 5GW.

5/31/2026

Summary

SoftBank Invests

SoftBank Group announced on May 30, 2026 that it will invest €75 billion to build 5 GW of capacity.
Phase one will allocate €45 billion for 3.1 GW at Dunkirk and Bouchain, with operations starting in 2028 and completing by 2031.
SoftBank will partner with Schneider Electric to build a data-center component cluster at the Port of Dunkirk.
The project will create jobs and will work with French universities and research centres on training.

Summary

Macron Proposes Fab

Potential investment could reach $100 billion (€90 billion) and may include an Arm-based semiconductor fab.
Talks began on May 11 after President Emmanuel Macron raised the idea with Masayoshi Son in Tokyo.
The plan may be announced at the Choose France Summit, which attracts foreign tech investors.
Adding an Arm-based fab aims to cut Europe’s reliance on Asian semiconductor supply chains.
France’s nuclear-powered grid would supply low-carbon electricity, supporting public co-investment to improve fab economics.

Summary

SoftBank Secures Site

EDF will transfer a former nuclear power-plant site to SoftBank for conversion into a data centre.
Masayoshi Son said France’s role as an energy producer and exporter is decisive for AI-infrastructure investment.
Schneider Electric will provide modular equipment for the data-centre sites, though financial terms were not disclosed.
The investment will be formally announced at the Choose France summit, an event President Emmanuel Macron uses to attract foreign tech investors.

History

Historical Context

In April 2005 Intel’s Leixlip plant produced its one-billionth microchip, following the 1994 Fab 10 launch and the 2004 opening of Fab 24, Ireland’s first advanced-node semiconductor facilities. Backed by the Irish government and EU funds, the project created high-skill jobs and showed that large, state-supported investments can anchor Europe’s AI-chip supply chain, a model later pursued in French data-center and Arm fab plans.

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SoftBank Invests

SoftBank Group announced on May 30, 2026 that it will invest €75 billion to build 5 GW of capacity.
Phase one will allocate €45 billion for 3.1 GW at Dunkirk and Bouchain, with operations starting in 2028 and completing by 2031.
SoftBank will partner with Schneider Electric to build a data-center component cluster at the Port of Dunkirk.
The project will create jobs and will work with French universities and research centres on training.

1 / 4