Founder, Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer, SoftBank
FULL PRESSER: President Macron and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son Deliver Joint Statement in Paris |AC14
WATCH NOW as French President Emmanuel Macron and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son deliver joint statements at the Élysée Palace in Paris following high-level discussions.
The meeting highlights key topics including global technology investment, artificial intelligence, economic cooperation, and future innovation strategies. As one of the world’s most influential tech investors meets the French leader, the talks signal potential collaboration between government and industry in shaping the future of global tech and finance.
Watch the full joint statement, key remarks, and insights from Paris as Mac...
About Masayoshi Son
Masayoshi Son announced a major artificial intelligence investment plan in France alongside President Emmanuel Macron on June 1, 2026. Son said that during a meeting in April, Macron asked him to invest in France and challenged him to deliver an announcement within two months for the "Choose France" event. Son stated that SoftBank committed to deliver 5 gigawatts of AI data center capacity in France, which he described as the largest such scale in Europe, representing an investment of 75 billion euros for the data centers and up to 750 billion dollars when including chips and systems. He said that sites for 3 gigawatts had already been secured in Dunkirk, Bosquet, and Bouchain, with additional sites under evaluation. Son characterized the rapid development as a matter of national security, stating that the United States and China are moving quickly and that Europe, Japan, and Asia must also accelerate to avoid being left behind. Son also discussed his views on artificial intelligence in other recent appearances. He said he uses ChatGPT for two to three hours daily and described it as having already surpassed artificial general intelligence (AGI) on many subjects. He predicted that artificial super-intelligence (ASI), which he described as 10,000 times smarter than humans, would arrive within two years, revising his earlier estimate of ten years. Son stated that AI models are now designing subsequent models without human engineers, and he positioned SoftBank as aiming to provide the chips, data centers, and robotics that he considers fundamental to the future of ASI.
Transcript (6 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
M
Masayoshi Son2:00
He said sugar. 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, you 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, the 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 2 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 location, to find all the conditions, and then we make it happen." And then we exchanged text and said maybe I can go for a challenge for 5 gigawatts. In two months we actually identified, committed, and made a specific site already secured for 3 gigawatts. And then we are now evaluating an additional 3 gigawatts. So we are going to commit to deliver 5 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 chip and system, it's going to be close to 750 billion dollars in the size of U.S. dollars, I have to convert to euro. But it's a massive size of investment coming. SoftBank does not put all of the money. We are aggregating. We do 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 this scale can be achieved. We are doing that in the U.S. already. We are expanding a lot in the U.S. 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 say every time civilization comes, society lifestyle changes, jobs change. But if you avoid the speed and the wave of civilization, your country would be left out. There's no choice. The U.S. 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 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 a factory here in France." This is all for the civilization of the next thousand years. France, Europe have to have momentum, a powerful engine for the growth of the next civilization. Thank you very much.
P
President Macron8:37
Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. — I really appreciate it. And let me say a few words in English before shifting to French. We are extremely happy, as you perfectly made it right now. We met beginning of April 1st in Japan during my state visit. And we had this first discussion. And we clearly wanted to make progress with you and deliver concrete results. And you were, as always, direct, ambitious, aggressive in the right sense of the word. And like a challenge, I just asked myself, "Okay, how fast are you? Are you sure that you can deliver for June 1st?" We will do whatever we can. And we did it. And I want to thank you personally, your team and our teams, because you worked very closely together and it's a wonderful achievement. So indeed, we already secured between Dunkirk, Bosquet, and Dushant three different sites. And we clearly have the equivalent already secured of 3 gigawatts, which makes roughly speaking 45 billion already secured in terms of investment. And you want to go to five, and we identified obviously the additional sites, which will make the 75 billion you mentioned and expressed. And on top, for us it's a great achievement because you are a very respected partner, very well known, and we transform available energy into data centers, into computing capacities for everybody in the world, but we are clearly bridging the gap we had in computing capacities in Europe. And today, this morning at the Elysée, we signed this partnership with Schneider, which will allow us collectively to even add more value to this project by this common factory in Dunkirk, where on AI robotics and AI capacities, you will create together more added value. So it's for us a great achievement. And on top of that, we discussed this morning with Masa together and our teams how to precisely make additional data centers in France, and we identified all the potential sites, and as well how to create more value together, meaning how to be more present on AI robotics, where Masa is a great player, and we have our roadmap. And we want to double down. So it's a great achievement. So I want to 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.
M
Masayoshi Son11:33
We renamed our project Melango.
P
President Macron11:47
Melango. It's going to make me so happy. So welcome. This time the period is attractive to Europe. Collective. Sure. I want to miss you, my lady. The ministers, Business France. Sure. The last edition of Choose France we mobilized 87 billion euros of foreign investment. Sure. Confirmed. Delivered. With the creation of more than 50,000 jobs. And that's in all our territories with many cities with less than 30,000 inhabitants. Investments have been deployed. I was there a few days ago. Precisely near Châteaudun for one of the sites of Vorwerk, which is a perfect illustration of the intensity of these investments. Today in Versailles, we will join these places in a few moments. 71 new investments are being announced. And this edition of Choose France alone will allow us to crystallize a record amount of confirmed record — 93 billion euros. Of course. And the announcement represents with the 45 billion confirmed, we haven't taken all those that are to come, so there is in addition to these 45 billion, you understood, the rest to arrive in the coming years to reach the sum of 75. But beyond the 45 billion from SoftBank, there are indeed other artificial intelligence and data center projects, but also strategic projects for our independence in semiconductors, critical minerals, electrification of tractors or trucks, steel, health. These 93 billion euros of foreign investment in our country are concrete proof of France's attractiveness. For the 7th consecutive year, the first destination for foreign investment in Europe, and it consecrates years of efforts that we accompany with an acceleration of our European agenda, a simplification of it including in areas of innovation, and an acceleration of major French projects with what we called the Notre-Dame method and the investments for the future for 2030. The announcement made by SoftBank today is therefore massive, it is also historic. It is 45 billion euros of investment in France confirmed, which we built in 2 months thanks to the available energy and all the work that has been done with the French nuclear industry, which allows us to export more than 90 terawatt-hours for 2 years, and thanks also to the mobilization and preparation of sites with local authorities and RTE so that these sites are immediately connected as quickly as possible. And so the sites of Bosquel, Dunkirk, and Bouchain are thus planned to host SoftBank's investments. They are confirmed, and therefore for these sites, as I said earlier in the introduction in French, it is 3 GW — it is sure and firm, as for the co-investment with Schneider in Dunkirk. This allows us to have these 45 billion euros of investment, and this will allow us to deploy the works in the coming months since we have a goal to finalize everything between end of 2029 and mid-2030 for these sites, and so that production by the end of 2030 can be fully effective. This is therefore an increase in added value for the country. Beyond these 45 billion euros, other sites have been identified to allow the 75 billion euros of SoftBank investment that are desired in France for data centers, and we have also identified new projects to produce robots in our country and continue innovation, but on that, faithful to the method we have had in recent months, I will not say more. We designed things with great ambition and with the will to move quickly, but we announce when it is sure, and that's what we did today. In any case, this is a very important day for France, for this partnership with SoftBank, since both data centers and the partnership with Schneider will allow us to advance much more strongly, to make France your first country of investment, to make France by far the first host country of data centers and computing capacities in Europe, and to make France...
And let me finish by saying this personal word to Masayoshi Son. Thank you very much for your commitment, your ambition, and the fact that you delivered in such a few weeks' time 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, Masayoshi Son.
M
Masayoshi Son18:00
Thank you. Thank you so much.