For the first phase, SoftBank is offering €45 billion to build 3.1 GW of capacity at various sites in the Hauts-de-France region by 2031, ramping up at a later date.
— SoftBank Group’s AI data centers will support growing demand for high-performance computing from AI companies, cloud providers, enterprises, public institutions and research organizations, they write in their release.
France was selected because of its wide manufacturing base, but another important factor is it advanced power grid, fueled by generous amounts of nuclear energy.
SoftBank will partner with Schneider Electric on the project, which will also create «thousands» of advanced, high-skilled jobs, requiring local universities, engineering schools, and training institutions to step up.
SoftBank is a major investor in OpenAI and is deeply involved in the Stargate program to build out compute capacity. This effort seems separate from both.
Read more: SoftBanks release, Reuters, and TechCrunch.