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SoftBank Group announced today<\/a> that it plans to spend up to \u20ac75 billion (around $87 billion) to expand data center capacity in France.<\/p>\n The goal, the firm said, is to develop and operate up to 5 gigawatts of additional data center capacity. The first phase of the plan involves building data centers in\u00a0Dunkirk (Loon-Plage), Bosquel, and Bouchain to deliver 3.1 gigawatts of capacity to the Hauts-de-France region by 2031.<\/p>\n SoftBank, which is both an investor in and customer of OpenAI<\/a>, says this will be its largest AI infrastructure investment in Europe.<\/p>\n In a statement, French economic minister Roland Lescure described the announcement as a \u201ctestament to President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s ambition to position France as a leading destination all along the AI value chain.\u201d<\/p>\n In the United States, opposition to data center construction is heating up<\/a> over environmental concerns, as well as questions about how data centers affect the electrical grid and utility prices. Nonetheless, SoftBank earlier announced plans to build a data center in Ohio, powered by a new 9.2 gigawatt natural gas plant<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n