Splashing out 59 billion! SoftBank reportedly set to build the largest computing power cluster in Europe in France.

The latest news from early Sunday morning Beijing time shows that SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son's "AI gamble" has taken a new direction - investing up to 75 billion euros (approximately 591.8 billion yuan) to build a large-scale computing power cluster in France. According to informed sources, this investment was quickly advanced by French President Macron and Masayoshi Son in April this year after having dinner together in Tokyo. During the dinner, Macron introduced France's abundant nuclear energy resources and fast approval channels for artificial intelligence facilities to Son. This commitment will also add a significant achievement to Macron's "Choose France" investment summit next week. Masayoshi Son stated in a media interview, "SoftBank is very proud to make this significant commitment to France. With its industrial strength, talent pool, and national-level ambitions, France has a unique advantage in becoming the hub of AI infrastructure in Europe." Where will the money come from? It is reported that SoftBank will initially lead an investment of 45 billion euros, and by 2031, will build a computing power capacity of 3.1 gigawatts in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France, with plans to further expand to 2 gigawatts. This location has a strategic geographical advantage, not only serving the local market in France, but also radiating to major European markets such as London, Brussels, and Amsterdam. If the 5-gigawatt park is fully built, its power consumption would be equivalent to that of five standard nuclear power plants or close to the peak power demand of New York City in the United States. Reportedly, in the facility located in Dunkirk, SoftBank will also collaborate with Schneider Electric to create an industrial center that combines AI infrastructure and Siasun Robot & Automation manufacturing. It should be noted that 75 billion euros is far from enough to build a 5-gigawatt data center. According to general algorithms, it may cost 50 billion US dollars to build a 1-gigawatt data center, covering land acquisition, engineering construction, power facilities, and IT equipment procurement. Therefore, SoftBank's project in France will likely require more undisclosed partners to jointly finance it. In past typical cases, SoftBank provided only a small percentage of initial equity funding, with the vast majority of funds being obtained through project financing in the form of debt financing. Meanwhile, with SoftBank Group's stock surging by over 70% this year, SoftBank Holdings' Arm rising by 220%, and the windfall from the gamble on OpenAI, Masayoshi Son's net worth has reached $88.1 billion. If AI concept stocks continue to rise slightly next week, he will have the opportunity to surpass Indian tycoons Ambani and Adani and become the new richest man in Asia. This article is reproduced from "CaiLian Press", author: Shi Zhengcheng; GMTEight editor: Chen Siyu.