SoftBank

Overview

SoftBank Group is the Japanese investment conglomerate led by Masayoshi Son and the primary capital vehicle behind the Stargate AI data-center build-out template originally announced with OpenAI and Oracle. Through 2026 it has extended the Stargate playbook beyond the US — including a parallel ~$500B Ohio commitment and, as of May 30, an “up to €75B / 5 GW” pledge to French AI data centers at Choose France 2026.

Timeline

• 2026-05-31-AI-Digest — Announces at Choose France 2026 on 2026-05-30 an “up to €75B (~$87B) to build 5 GW of AI data-center capacity across three French sites — Dunkirk/Loon-Plage, Bosquel, and Bouchain — in partnership with EDF on power and Schneider Electric on robotics build-out. The €45B Phase 1 delivering 3.1 GW in Hauts-de-France by 2031 is the firm-ish part; the remaining ~1.9 GW / ~€30B Phase 2 is effectively an option post-2031 rather than a closed commitment. Honest read: SoftBank extending its Stargate playbook to a European host country, not a centre-of-gravity shift — the parallel ~$500B Ohio commitment dwarfs the French number.

Key Developments

1. €75B / 5 GW French AI Data-Center Pledge: The Choose France 2026 announcement is the largest single European AI-infrastructure commitment of 2026 in headline terms, but the load-bearing read is “announcement-grade, not signed-binding capex” — Phase 1 is firm-ish (€45B / 3.1 GW by 2031), Phase 2 is an option.

Related

See also: OpenAI, MOC - AI Infrastructure, MOC - Major Companies.