Microsoft is investing four billion euros in France to develop data centers… an update on the American giant's projects

“This is the most important investment we have ever made” in France, said Microsoft President Brad Smith. FAZRY ISMAIL – MAXPPP

Microsoft will invest four billion euros in the development of data centers in France to strengthen its infrastructure in artificial intelligence (AI) and the cloud, the American IT giant announced before the summit Choose France Monday.

"This is the largest investment we have ever made"in France, said its president Brad Smith, and one of the most important abroad for the American company in AI in recent months, an area in which it is investing massively.

New center in eastern France

A new Microsoft data center is to be established in eastern France, near Mulhouse, while existing sites, in the Paris region and near Marseille, will be expanded. These specialized buildings contain the computer servers essential to the proper functioning of cloud and AI technologies, which are very energy-intensive.

Renewable energies

They will be equipped with the latest generation processors with a capacity of up to 25,000 GPUs, in order to power France's cloud and artificial intelligence services. The American giant is also committed to operating at 100% renewable energy, including in its data centers, by 2025.

While he emphasizes that France is already a major player in artificial intelligence, Brad Smith believes that "what France needs , it’s infrastructure". "This will allow local companies to use it to train their models in France" he detailed, specifying that Microsoft would not use this data to train its own models.

Train for AI careers

Microsoft also wants to train nearly a million people in France in AI professions by the end of 2027, through various training programs and partnerships, and provide support to more than 2 ;500 start-ups over the same period.

With these announcements, Microsoft is further consolidating its presence in France, where the Windows manufacturer announced in February to invest nearly 15 million euros in the start-up ;French AI Mistral, gem in its sector.

In recent months, the company created in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen has made numerous announcements of investments in AI abroad, including 3, 4 billion dollars in Germany, 2.1 billion in Spain or 2.9 billion in Japan.

Choose France Summit

Present in France since 1983, Microsoft employs more than 2 100 people. In total, "more than 15 billion euros of investments" for 56 projects, that of Microsoft in head, will be officially unveiled during the Choose France summit, the Elysée announced on Monday.

According to the latest EY barometer, France established itself in 2023 as the European champion of attractiveness for the fifth year in a row, with almost of 1 200 foreign investment announcements.