Data centers in France: a map of the major projects in 2026

An existing base concentrated around Paris and Marseille

France currently has around 350 data centers. Ademe, the French environment agency, counted 352 in operation in 2024, using around 8 TWh of electricity a year. The Paris region is the heart of it: according to Cushman & Wakefield, Paris has around 700 MW of operational capacity, and close to 900 MW more is planned. In 2025, the Paris market even attracted more investment than Frankfurt.

The second hub is Marseille, driven by the arrival of many submarine cables that make it a gateway for data between Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Next come Lyon, Lille and Roubaix, historically linked to OVHcloud, and a few regional sites.

The new generation: giant AI campuses

Since the AI Action Summit of February 2025, the logic has changed. New projects are no longer data halls of a few megawatts but genuine industrial sites, sized for thousands of graphics processors (GPUs).

Fouju, the flagship project

The Fouju AI campus, some forty kilometres south-east of Paris, is the largest data center project in the country. It is due to reach 1.4 GW in the long run, the order of magnitude of a nuclear reactor, for an estimated investment of €50 billion. It obtained its prefectural authorisation at the end of July 2026, and the first phase is expected in 2028. The project remains contested: several associations have filed legal challenges (see Data centers and the environment: water, land and local acceptance).

Hauts-de-France, the new land of data centers

At the Choose France summit in May 2026, SoftBank committed to developing 5 GW of capacity in France, for an investment of up to €75 billion. The first phase, €45 billion for 3.1 GW, covers three sites in Hauts-de-France: Dunkirk (Loon-Plage), Bosquel and Bouchain. SoftBank has also partnered with Schneider Electric to manufacture power modules for data centers in Dunkirk.

The region is also attracting Data4, which confirmed a €5 billion investment in Escaudain, near Valenciennes, in June 2026, and Brookfield in Cambrai. The reasons for this appeal: available industrial land, the proximity of the Gravelines nuclear power plant and an extra-high-voltage grid reinforced in port areas.

Why the map is being redrawn

Three factors explain this shift towards new areas.

Electricity first. An AI campus needs hundreds of megawatts, sometimes more than a gigawatt. In Île-de-France, the capacity requested by data center projects (6.5 GW according to RTE) is already approaching the average consumption of the whole region. Sites that can be connected quickly are becoming the scarce resource (see Access to power, the new bottleneck for data centers).

Land next. These campuses cover dozens of hectares. Brownfield industrial sites and port areas are sought after, but they are not always enough, which is pushing some projects onto farmland.

Public support finally. The State has identified sites ready to host data centers, and the simplification law of May 2026 allows them to be classified as "projects of major national interest" (see Public policy: what the State and the regions are doing to attract data centers).

How many of these projects will actually happen?

Announcements must be distinguished from megawatts actually commissioned. RTE had reserved close to 18 GW of connection capacity for around 80 projects in May 2026, but only eight data centers were then connected to the high-voltage grid, for a combined 800 MW. Between announcement, permit, connection and commissioning, five years or more often go by. Some projects will be resized, delayed or abandoned.

The underlying trend, however, is in no doubt: in ten years, France will build data center capacity several times greater than what it took twenty years to build.