Along with fellow US behemoth Amazon, Microsoft announced on Sunday that it will invest four billion euros in the development of data centers in France.
The announcements were made the night before the eighth Choose France Summit, intended to draw in international investment to France. French President Emmanuel Macron will host the event near Paris, at the Chateau of Versailles.
According to Microsoft President Brad Smith, the company has made its largest investment in France since its debut forty-one years ago with this move to fortify its cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure. According to Smith, the decision was justified by France’s “longstanding commitment to carbon-free energy markets” and its standing as a “critical leader” in Europe.
While current locations in the Paris region and the southern city of Marseille will be enlarged, a new data centre will be built in eastern France.
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, will invest more than 1.2 billion euros in France, generating over 3,000 jobs, the office of French President Emmanuel Macron announced earlier on Sunday. According to a release, the funds will be used to develop the logistical infrastructure of Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) parcel delivery service as well as the cloud architecture, primarily generative artificial intelligence.
Amazon recently stated that it did not want to make any comments in advance of a potential announcement that would be made at the event.
By the end of the year, the US company’s workforce in France would have increased to 24,000, primarily in its logistics centers, with the announcement of the creation of 2,000 more jobs in the nation in 2024.
