*Update*: Choose-France summit: €93 billion pledged, job question remains open

Emmanuel Macron presented record investment pledges at the annual Choose-France summit in Versailles. Handelsblatt reports that SoftBank alone is putting €45 billion on the table for AI data centres – part of the Japanese conglomerate's originally announced €75 billion total commitment. Together with other partners, France reaches €93 billion in pledged capital, more than ever before at this format.

The bulk of the funds – around 85 percent – will flow into artificial intelligence and the associated data centre infrastructure. Sifted reports that France is thereby attracting more AI-related projects than any other country in Europe. A key location advantage is seen as the ability to connect data centres to the power grid comparatively quickly – a result of France's nuclear power model, which provides stable baseload capacity.

Celebration with a downside

But the celebration has a downside. Mediapart analyzes that data centre investments of this scale generate hardly any direct employment: operating highly automated server farms requires little personnel, while traditional industries such as automotive, chemicals and metallurgy continue to face pressure. Macron celebrates France as a magnet for international capital, yet at the same time his economic promise is at risk of faltering on the jobs front.

The question of who benefits from the billions thus remains central. Fast network connections and cheap energy prices attract corporations like SoftBank – but value creation remains predominantly with the investors, not in the local economy. Critics are calling for investment pledges to be tied to concrete employment targets in future.

France establishes itself as a European AI hub

For the European comparison, the summit is nonetheless a signal: France has established itself as the preferred location for AI infrastructure in Europe, while other countries are falling behind on approval procedures and energy capacity.