Macron personally "invites investment"! Masayoshi Son plans to bet $100 billion, making France a new pivot for Softbank's global AI data center.

According to informed sources, SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son has held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron about unveiling a grand AI data center project in France in the coming weeks. The sources said that the Japanese entrepreneur is considering investing billions of dollars in France, which is part of SoftBank's broader artificial intelligence infrastructure development blueprint. Two of the sources mentioned that Son had suggested investing up to $100 billion in the country, but the final amount could be much lower if he decides to prioritize other projects. Macron proposed this AI idea during his recent meeting with Son in Tokyo, and the related plans could be announced as early as this month. An insider revealed that this Japanese investor is accustomed to similar consultations with company leaders, but he is curious about directly contacting a country's head of state and has begun to take this matter seriously. Macron and Son may announce their plans during the "Choose France" summit. The summit, initiated by Macron in 2018, is an annual high-level gathering of industry leaders aimed at attracting foreign investment and enhancing France's business attractiveness. The project details are still evolving, and the scale of potential investments may change. Son is known for having a long list of regularly revised investment ideas, and he has previously announced investments worth trillions of dollars in AI infrastructure globally, but some have yet to materialize. Before planning to enter France, SoftBank announced in March a large-scale data center project in Ohio, with a potential investment of $500 billion for installing a capacity of 10 gigawatts (GW). It would be an AI computing complex powered by a natural gas power generation worth around $3.3 billion. Additionally, SoftBank has partnered with OpenAI, Oracle, and Abu Dhabi's MGX for a $500 billion "Stargate" initiative to promote data center facilities nationwide in the United States. Apart from data center projects, SoftBank has committed to investing over $60 billion in OpenAI, holding approximately 13% of its shares. With AI companies racing to acquire sufficient computing power to meet the growing demand for their services, these initiatives underscore Son's ambition to establish data center hubs in major locations around the world. For SoftBank, these new venture capital investments may help diversify its AI-related revenue sources beyond ChatGPT. SoftBank's stock price rose by 4.4% in early Tokyo trading. The company's mobile division released robust financial reports on Monday and announced plans to produce large-scale battery units to meet the energy demands of AI data centers. However, there are doubts about whether Son can raise enough funds to realize all his AI ambitions. Following hesitation from some creditors, SoftBank reduced a $1 billion profit rate loan plan secured by its stake in OpenAI. The Japanese conglomerate and the banks assisting it with seeking loans mentioned that the target amount has been lowered to $600 million. BI analyst Sharon Chen stated: "SoftBank Group may largely rely on third-party capital or project financing to fund the proposed $100 billion AI infrastructure investment in France. Based on our calculations, assuming Arm's stock price has more than doubled this year and OpenAI's valuation is based on the latest round of funding, SoftBank has around $15 billion to $20 billion investment capacity before reaching its self-imposed 25% loan-to-value ratio limit." Tech giants are significantly increasing capital expenditures on AI infrastructure this year. Just Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta together plan to spend up to $725 billion, nearly twice as much as last year. American mega-scale data center operators have raised their capital expenditure plans for 2026 to over $700 billion. Macron has openly supported countries outside the US and China to establish their own AI infrastructure. He advocates for the concept of sovereign AI and supports investments in local companies like Mistral AI so that countries can control their data and technology. Macron also promotes France as an attractive destination due to its quality energy grid and nuclear energy supply. At last year's "Choose France" summit, Nvidia and MGX announced plans to partner with the French AI company Mistral to build a 1.4 gigawatt site. According to French officials, the UAE had at that time expressed plans to invest between 30 billion and 50 billion in France to establish a new park.