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Masayoshi Son
Founder, Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer, SoftBank

FULL PRESSER: Macron and SoftBank CEO Unveil €75 Billion AI Mega Project to Transform France | AC1G

📅 Jun 01, 2026 DRM News 19 MIN 4565 VIEWS 4 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS
French President Emmanuel Macron and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son announced plans for a massive AI infrastructure investment in France, including up to 5 gigawatts of data center capacity worth an estimated €75 billion. The project aims to position France as Europe's AI hub, boosting computing power, robotics development, and technological competitiveness as Europe races to keep pace with the United States and China. Macron and SoftBank Unveil €75 Billion AI Mega Project to Transform France France Lands Massive AI Investment as SoftBank Targets Europe's Largest Data Centers Masayoshi Son: "Fran...

What Masayoshi Son said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Masayoshi Son announced a €75 billion AI data center project in France, the largest in Europe, with a commitment to deliver 5 gigawatts. He recounted that President Macron challenged him in April to act quickly for the June 1 Choose France event, and within two months they secured three sites (Dunkirk, Bosquel, Bouchain) for 3 gigawatts, with an additional 3 gigawatts under evaluation. Son said the total investment, including chips and systems, could approach $750 billion, but SoftBank will not fund it alone; they will aggregate project financing with hyperscaler customers. He framed the project as a national security imperative, arguing Europe must move fast to avoid being left behind by the US and China. He also discussed converting France's electricity exports into 'intelligence' exports and proposed making France a center for AI robot manufacturing, mentioning a partnership with Schneider Electric.

Key takeaways

  1. SoftBank commits to deliver 5 gigawatts of AI data center capacity in France, the largest in Europe, with a €75 billion investment.
  2. Three sites (Dunkirk, Bosquel, Bouchain) are secured for 3 gigawatts, with an additional 3 gigawatts under evaluation.
  3. The total investment, including chips and systems, could approach $750 billion, but SoftBank will aggregate project financing with hyperscaler customers.
  4. Son proposed making France a center for AI robot manufacturing and exporting, in partnership with Schneider Electric.
  5. Son framed the project as a national security issue, urging Europe to move fast to avoid being left behind by the US and China.

Numbers and commitments

FigureWhat it refers toTypeAt
5 gigawatts AI data center capacity commitment in France commitment 2:18
€75 billion Investment size for the AI data center project guidance 2:18
3 gigawatts Secured capacity at three sites metric 8:22
additional 3 gigawatts Capacity under evaluation metric 8:22
$750 billion Total investment including chips and systems guidance 2:18
2 gigawatts Initial target proposed by Son metric 11:34

Questions asked in this interview

1
  1. 8:22And like a challenge, I just asked myself, 'Okay, how fast are you?
Masayoshi Son 2:18 ↗
And then he asked me, 'Masa, can you do something in France? Choose France.' Okay? For your expansion of business and technology, especially AI data center, can use our power in France. I said, 'Okay, if you have power, we can make an AI data center.' And he asked me, 'Masa, are you quick?' I said, 'I am quick.' Because he asked me because there's an event on June 1st, Choose France event. It's only two months. So, can you make it happen? Can we announce something on June 1st? I said, 'Okay, I will try.' And he asked me, 'How much can you do?' I said, 'I can try for two gigawatts.' But I need your support. So, he said, 'Yeah, okay. Let's do it together. Your team, our team, work together to find the locations, to find all the conditions, and then we make it happen.' And then we exchanged texts and said, 'Maybe I can go for a challenge for five gigawatts.' In two months, we actually identified, committed, and made a specific site already secured for three gigawatts. And then we are now evaluating an additional three gigawatts. So, we are going to commit to deliver five gigawatts, which is the largest scale in Europe, which is 75 billion euro in the size of investment for the AI data center. But, if you include the chips and systems, it's going to be close to 750 billion dollars in the size of US dollars. I have to convert into euro, but it's a massive size of investment coming. SoftBank will not put all of the money. We are aggregating. We do the project financing because we have hyperscalers as our customers. 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. We are doing that in the US already. We are expanding a lot in the US. So, we have the model, we have the momentum, which we can make France the center of Europe, and Europe needs this kind of AI technology. I get amazed every time I come to Europe. The last thousands of years of civilization centered in Europe. I think so. People discuss whether AI is good, robotics by AI is good or bad for humanity. I said every time civilization comes, the society lifestyle changes, the jobs change. But if you avoid the speed and the wave of civilization, your country would be left out. There's no choice. The US is going fast, China is going fast. Europe, Japan, Asia have to also go fast not to be left out. This is a national security. France has been exporting electricity power. Now, not just exporting, continue to export electricity power, we can convert electricity as a raw material into more high-valued intelligence. So France can export intelligence. Not just a power export, export intelligence which is made by power. Initiated by power. More value-added export. AI utilizing robots, AI robots, France can be, we discussed in the morning. President Macron has a passion with the AI robot. I said, 'Okay. Maybe we can make France the center of AI robots exporting, manufacturing, creating factories here in France.' This is all for the civilization of the next thousand years. France, Europe have to have a momentum, a powerful engine for the growth of the next civilization. Thank you very much.

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Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX
APA

Son, M. (2026, June 1). FULL PRESSER: Macron and SoftBank CEO Unveil €75 Billion AI Mega Project to Transform France | AC1G [Interview transcript]. DRM News. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/955520/

MLA

Masayoshi Son. "FULL PRESSER: Macron and SoftBank CEO Unveil €75 Billion AI Mega Project to Transform France | AC1G." DRM News, 1 Jun. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/955520/.

BibTeX
@misc{son2026_955520,
  author       = {Masayoshi Son},
  title        = {FULL PRESSER: Macron and SoftBank CEO Unveil €75 Billion AI Mega Project to Transform France | AC1G},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, DRM News. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {jun},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/955520/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}