SoftBank Eyes $100B AI Data Center Deal in France
SoftBank in Talks With France Over Potential $100 Billion AI Data Center Investment
SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son is in discussions with French President Emmanuel Macron about a major artificial intelligence data center project in France, with figures of up to $100 billion floated in early talks, according to Bloomberg reporting from May 11, 2026. Sources familiar with the matter stressed that the final investment could fall well short of that figure depending on competing priorities — and neither SoftBank nor the French government had issued a formal public statement confirming project terms at the time of reporting.
Reuters corroborated the Bloomberg report but said it could not immediately verify the details. The discussions, if they result in a confirmed deal, would place France at the center of SoftBank's sweeping global push into AI infrastructure — a campaign that already spans the United States, the Middle East, and Asia.
How the Talks Began: Macron Goes Directly to Son
According to Bloomberg sources cited by the Japan Times, it was Macron himself who initiated the conversation, raising the idea of an AI data center project during a personal meeting with Son in Tokyo. Sources said Son — who was accustomed to receiving inquiries from company executives — was particularly struck that the approach came directly from a head of state, and began reviewing the proposal in earnest as a result.
A public announcement was reportedly expected at the Choose France Summit, an annual business investment event that Macron launched in 2018 to attract foreign capital and promote France's appeal as a destination for global business. The summit has previously delivered significant AI investment commitments: at the prior year's edition, Nvidia and Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX announced plans with Mistral AI to build a 1.4 gigawatt site in France, while the UAE said it would spend between $30 billion and $50 billion on a new AI campus in the country, according to French officials.
France's pitch to Son is partly built on its nuclear energy infrastructure. According to Construction Review Online, the country is actively leveraging its nuclear power capacity to attract hyperscale data center investments, offering a stable, low-carbon electricity supply — a meaningful advantage for AI facilities that consume vast amounts of power.
Project Izanagi: The Broader AI Ambition Behind the France Talks
The potential France investment is being viewed by analysts and industry observers as an extension of SoftBank's 'Project Izanagi,' a $100 billion AI semiconductor and infrastructure initiative led by Son. According to Data Center Dynamics, the name 'Izanagi' was chosen in part because the last three letters spell 'AGI' — artificial general intelligence — reflecting Son's long-held prediction about the development of superintelligent systems.
The proposed funding structure for Project Izanagi envisions approximately $30 billion from SoftBank's own balance sheet and $70 billion from external partners, primarily Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, according to multiple sources including Klover.ai and Appscribed citing Bloomberg's original reporting.
At the core of Project Izanagi is a vertically integrated AI hardware strategy. SoftBank holds approximately a 90% stake in semiconductor chip designer Arm Holdings, which it took public on the Nasdaq in 2023 after acquiring a majority stake in 2016, according to GuruFocus. In 2024, SoftBank acquired British AI chip company Graphcore, subsequently injecting $457 million into the business according to a Companies House filing cited by CNBC. The company also acquired silicon design firm Ampere Computing in 2025. Together, these assets form the chip design foundation that Son is positioning as central to his AI infrastructure play.
SoftBank's AI Investment Portfolio: Scale and Exposure
The France discussions are taking shape against a backdrop of aggressive and wide-ranging AI bets by SoftBank. The company has invested more than $30 billion in OpenAI, giving it approximately an 11% stake, according to Reuters. To support that position, SoftBank secured a $40 billion bridge loan earlier in 2026, according to Mobile World Live. Bloomberg separately reported that a $10 billion margin loan backed by SoftBank's OpenAI stake was subsequently cut to $6 billion following concerns from lenders.
SoftBank is also a partner in the $500 billion Stargate initiative alongside OpenAI, Oracle, and Abu Dhabi's MGX, which aims to deploy AI data center infrastructure across the United States. In March 2026, SoftBank separately announced plans for a large-scale Ohio data center project worth around $500 billion in total investment value, targeting 10 gigawatts of AI computing capacity, according to Mobile World Live and Construction Review Online.
The scale of these commitments has not gone unnoticed by credit analysts. The financial structure — heavily reliant on external sovereign wealth fund capital rather than SoftBank's own balance sheet alone — has drawn scrutiny from ratings agencies including S&P Global, though supporters of Son's approach argue the model is a deliberate strategic choice rather than a sign of financial strain.
Why France, and Why Now
France's emergence as a focal point for global AI infrastructure investment reflects both Macron's active courtship of technology capital and the country's structural energy advantages. Nuclear power provides France with electricity that is both relatively stable in price and low in carbon emissions — two attributes that matter enormously for the economics and sustainability credentials of large-scale data centers.
The broader industry context underscores just how competitive the race for AI infrastructure has become. Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta now plan to spend as much as $725 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026, according to data cited by TradingView and Yahoo Finance — nearly double the prior year's level. Against that backdrop, a $100 billion commitment to a single country, even if the final figure proves lower, would represent a significant concentration of AI compute capacity in Europe.
SoftBank's interest in France also fits a pattern of Son positioning his conglomerate not merely as an investor in AI companies, but as a builder of the physical infrastructure — chips, data centers, and power — that AI systems run on. The Graphcore acquisition, Ampere Computing, the Arm stake, and now the potential France project are all consistent with that vertically integrated vision.
What SoftBank Has Said
Direct public commentary from SoftBank on the France project has been limited. The one on-record statement from Son available in reporting relates to the Graphcore acquisition rather than the France discussions specifically. Describing Graphcore, Son called it "a company with deep expertise in chip design, which further builds on Arm's leadership in semiconductor IP," according to CNBC — a characterization that reflects his broader thesis about building a unified AI hardware stack.
No direct public statement from SoftBank or President Macron providing detailed terms for the France project had been cited in reporting at the time of original publication, according to Let's Data Science.
What Comes Next
The Choose France Summit was the anticipated venue for any public announcement, though as of reporting the deal remained unconfirmed and subject to change depending on how Son prioritizes competing projects. Two sources told Bloomberg that Son may not get close to the $100 billion figure if other initiatives take precedence — a caveat that warrants caution about treating the upper-end figure as a firm commitment.
What is clearer is the direction of travel. SoftBank has been systematically assembling the components — capital, chip assets, infrastructure partnerships, and sovereign fund relationships — needed to operate as a major force in global AI hardware and compute. Whether the France project materializes at $100 billion, a fraction of that, or not at all in its current form, the underlying strategy is unlikely to change course.
For France, the stakes are also significant. Macron has invested considerable political capital in positioning his country as Europe's premier destination for AI investment. Landing a flagship SoftBank project would be a further validation of that pitch — and a signal to other global technology investors about where European AI infrastructure is being built.
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