Microsoft will invest 4 billion euros in France… and we can thank nuclear power for that


Samir Rahmoune

May 13, 2024 at 3:42 p.m.

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Microsoft headquarters in France © JeanLucIchard / Shutterstock

Microsoft headquarters in France © JeanLucIchard / Shutterstock

Microsoft has just announced the upcoming investment of 4 billion euros in France. And the firm founded by Bill Gates has very specific reasons for this decision.

Since Emmanuel Macron came to power, every year, a Choose France summit is organized around foreign investments in the country. And for 2024, the major announcement in the field will surely be the one just made by Microsoft, with a project which will concern the American giant’s data centers.

Microsoft data centers will grow in France

4 billion euros. This is the substantial sum that Microsoft will invest in France. The project is exceptional, as its boss Brad Smith points out in an interview with theAFP : “ This is the most important investment we have ever made in France. »

This money is intended for the American group’s data center parks. Microsoft’s existing sites in Île-de-France and Marseille will thus be expanded, while a new site will see the light of day in the east of the country, in Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin). As a reminder, data centers are essential infrastructures for the cloud and AI, two areas in which Microsoft is a leader, notably through its partnership with OpenAI, the father of ChatGPT.

© aerophoto / Shutterstock

© aerophoto / Shutterstock

The French nuclear fleet, an asset for Microsoft

Infrastructures which are as essential as they are extremely energy intensive. And this is where the choice of France makes particular sense for Microsoft. The French nuclear fleet is in fact one of the reasons for this project, France being attractive for its “ carbon-free energy. »

He is ” easier to invest in France for this type of business than in other countries » said Brad Smith. As a reminder, Microsoft aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, and recently announced mega-investments around the world to be able to obtain the immense quantity of electricity from renewable sources that its development in the ‘AI will require.

So, with the energy needs of digital giants which will continue to grow, while the world is increasingly switching to low-carbon energies, will the national nuclear fleet make France an El Dorado for the giants of tech?

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Microsoft Copilot is a chatbot combining advanced artificial intelligence with the ability to generate creative and realistic images using DALL-E 3, and process image-based queries using GPT-4. This multimodal integration makes it a versatile tool for users looking to obtain contextual information about images or generate tailor-made visual content.

Source : Le Figaro, Boursorama

Samir Rahmoune

Samir Rahmoune

Tech journalist, specializing in the impact of high technologies on international relations. I am passionate about all the new developments in the field (Blockchain, AI, quantum...), the...

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Tech journalist, specializing in the impact of high technologies on international relations. I am passionate about all the new developments in the field (Blockchain, AI, quantum...), energy issues, and astronomy. Often one foot in Asia, and always ready to put on the gloves.

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