President Emmanuel Macron’s office announced Monday that France has received investment commitments totaling more than 15 billion euros ($16.2 billion) from foreign companies.
The announcement was made as President Macron began the first day of a meeting with foreign business leaders at the Palace of Versailles called “Choose France”.
The biggest initiative comes from Microsoft, which on Sunday announced a €4 billion investment in data center development.
Microsoft President Brad Smith told AFP that the efforts to strengthen its artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure are the tech giant’s biggest investment in France since it moved into France 41 years ago.
A new data center will be established in eastern France, expanding existing sites in the Paris region and the southern city of Marseille.
E-commerce giant Amazon will invest more than 1.2 billion euros in France and create more than 3,000 jobs, Macron’s office announced on Sunday.
The funding will help develop Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud infrastructure (primarily generative artificial intelligence) and logistics infrastructure for the delivery service, the statement added.
– “Stable” policy –
Several pharmaceutical companies, including the US’ Pfizer Group and Britain’s AstraZeneca, announced on Sunday that they would invest more than 1 billion euros more in the French medical sector.
The biggest industrial project announced so far is the construction of a fertilizer factory that has the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions.
France was Europe’s top overseas investment destination for the fifth consecutive year last year, with more than 1,200 investments announced, according to EY research.
“This is a result of the stability of our economic policy,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told public broadcaster France 2.
Macron’s office said the total investment of 15 billion euros, spread across a “record” 56 projects, could lead to the creation of 10,000 jobs.
Sylvain Barsinger, chief economist at economic consultancy Astelles, said France’s attractiveness for foreign money was based on its education system, tax system, culture of innovation and solid domestic market.
But he questioned the usefulness of Monday’s high-profile event in Versailles, once the home of France’s kings.
“Most projects would have happened anyway, with or without the summit,” he said.
~ “World-class skills” ~
Paris is one of Europe’s “big four” data center hubs, competing for business with Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London.
Marseille has also attracted significant investment in this sector in recent years.
Microsoft’s Smith said France stands out from its competitors because of its “long-standing commitment to the carbon-free energy market.”
France relies on nuclear power for its energy production and, unlike Germany and the UK, has largely phased out fossil fuels.
Sami Slim, CEO of French data center company Telehaus, said part of the country’s appeal was its quick connections to London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
“We are 10 milliseconds away from every connected node in Europe,” he told AFP.
Geraldine Camara of industry group France Data Center added that the country has “world-class engineering skills”.
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