Northern France is going all in on AI.
Across the Hauts-de-France region, data center projects are multiplying, supported by massive investments that could transform the area into an “AI Valley,” thanks to a combination of geographical advantages and a strategy already tested through its successful “Battery Valley” initiative.
Japanese conglomerate SoftBank has pledged €45 billion to build three next-generation data centers in the region by 2031. Each facility is expected to deliver an unprecedented one gigawatt of computing capacity.
This single announcement accounts for nearly half of all foreign investment commitments secured nationally during the most recent Choose France summit in early June.
Additional investors are lining up. European data center operator Data4, owned by Canadian asset manager Brookfield, plans to invest up to €30 billion to build two additional hyperscale data centers in northern France.
Xavier Bertrand, President of the Hauts-de-France region and a candidate in France’s 2027 presidential election, is seeking to capitalize on this momentum by hosting an AI summit in Lille on Friday.
Presented as the “French Act II” of artificial intelligence following last year’s Paris AI Summit, the event will bring together leading experts and business executives.
“We are fully committed to AI,” Bertrand told AFP.
A Collective Drive
While the Paris region currently hosts the majority of France’s AI infrastructure, Hauts-de-France offers several advantages for accommodating highly energy-intensive facilities of this scale.
The first is its strategic location at the heart of the FLAP corridor—Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, and Paris—the four major connectivity hubs of Europe. The region also benefits from abundant low-carbon electricity generated by France’s nuclear power fleet, according to Data4.
It is also “one of the few regions in France with very large industrial brownfield sites available for redevelopment,” notes Mathieu Jaud de la Jousselinière, partner at consulting firm EY.
He also highlights logistics real estate costs that remain lower than in neighboring countries.
Speaking to AFP, he said he was particularly struck by the “remarkable collective energy” displayed by local authorities and economic stakeholders in attracting investors.
“With local government and the French state, we operate as one team,” says Xavier Bertrand.
“We know how to move faster than others. When you're clear and straightforward, you save time and build trust.”
The speed of project execution has already been demonstrated by the battery gigafactories for electric vehicles that have emerged across the region in recent years.
Since 2025, three sites in Hauts-de-France have benefited from accelerated grid connection procedures through French transmission operator RTE, specifically to accommodate large-scale data centers.
As for public acceptance, it is “not an issue” in the region, according to Mathieu Jaud de la Jousselinière, who points to the area's industrial heritage and culture centered around the value of work.
Environmental groups are less enthusiastic.
France Nature Environnement has criticized what it describes as a lack of meaningful public debate around projects of such significance.
“We have virtually no information about the impacts of these facilities because no public consultation meetings have been organized before the projects move forward,” says regional president Thierry Dereux.
Seeking to address environmental concerns, Xavier Bertrand notes that excess heat generated by the data centers will be redirected into urban district heating networks.
A First Step Toward a Broader AI Ecosystem
The gap between the scale of the investments and their direct employment impact has also raised questions.
SoftBank’s three data centers are expected to create only around 900 direct jobs.
Compared with industries such as automotive manufacturing, data centers are “far less integrated into the local economic fabric,” acknowledges Alexandre Bernard, EY’s Managing Director for Northern France.
A significant share of the investment will ultimately be allocated to energy consumption and to purchasing advanced semiconductors designed and manufactured elsewhere in the world, he notes.
For Xavier Bertrand, however, the data centers represent only the first stage of a much broader ambition.
“This is useful infrastructure and a source of added value for our businesses,” he says.
The regional leader is currently negotiating access to sovereign data resources as well as preferential access to these vast computing capacities for local companies and universities.
Whether these facilities will generate enough momentum to build a fully integrated AI ecosystem in the region remains uncertain.
“I don't know what level of real traction these data centers will create to establish a complete AI value chain in Hauts-de-France,” says Mathieu Jaud de la Jousselinière.
“But one thing is certain: we have to play this card to the fullest.”
As Europe races to secure computing power and AI infrastructure, Hauts-de-France is positioning itself as a serious contender to become one of the continent’s most important AI hubs.
