Microsoft announces EUR 4 billion investment in France for cloud and AI

2024-05-13 · Publisher : Microsoft · Domain : Cloud & DevOps

Ahead of the Choose France summit, Microsoft announces EUR 4 billion to expand its data centres in Paris and Marseille and open one near Mulhouse, with up to 25,000 latest-generation GPUs by end 2025.

### Background On 13 May 2024, at the Choose France summit, Microsoft announces an investment of **EUR 4 billion** in France. Most of it builds a new-generation cloud and AI infrastructure: expansion of existing sites in the Paris and Marseille regions, and a new site in the Grand Est region near Mulhouse. Microsoft plans capacity of up to 25,000 latest-generation GPUs by the end of 2025. ### Key facts - Amount: EUR 4 billion announced for France. - Sites: expansion in the Paris region and near Marseille; new site near Mulhouse (Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération). - Capacity: up to 25,000 latest-generation GPUs in France by end 2025. - Skills component: train 1 million people in AI and support 2,500 French startups by 2027. - Argument cited by Brad Smith: France's abundant nuclear, hence low-carbon, electricity. ### Why it matters AI cloud settles in France with locally hosted GPUs, which matters for customers with data residency or latency requirements. For IT departments, the announcement widens the Azure regions able to host AI workloads in France. It also shows that nuclear electricity has become a siting argument, like taxation or connectivity. ### Takeaway One of the first large hyperscaler commitments to locally hosted AI compute in France.

Tags : Datacenter, Europe, Azure, Hyperscaler, IA