Data4 Consortium Selected for €5 Billion Data Center Campus on Former French Steelworks Site
December 18, 2025
A major data center development in Northern France highlights the industry's strategic pivot towards repurposing large-scale industrial sites with robust power infrastructure to meet surging demand for digital capacity. The selection of a consortium led by Brookfield-owned Data4 for a €5 billion ($5.86 billion) project underscores the intense competition and high-value investment flowing into European digital infrastructure.
A consortium comprising data center operator Data4 and construction firm BT Immo was formally selected this week to develop a hyperscale campus at the Soufflantes industrial park in Escaudain, near Denain. The site, a former steelworks operated by Usinor that ceased operations 45 years ago, was recently identified by the French government as one of 35 turnkey locations for data center development. The location offers a significant advantage with up to 700MW of power capacity available via the national RTE grid.
Following a local authority meeting, the consortium will now conduct a two-month feasibility study. If approved, the ambitious project is anticipated to be operational by 2030. The development represents a key part of Brookfield's broader €20 billion investment strategy for French digital infrastructure, which it announced earlier this year and will largely channel through Data4.
The project's scale and location reflect a broader industry trend of converting brownfield sites with existing power access into critical digital assets. Data4, which operates a portfolio of over 30 data centers across Europe with a total capacity of approximately 1.5GW, was reportedly selected over competing interest from cloud giant AWS, indicating the strategic value of the site.
This development not only promises significant economic investment and technological modernization for the Hauts-de-France region but also demonstrates how legacy industrial areas are being reinvented as core hubs for the continent's expanding AI and cloud computing ecosystems.
Source: datacenterdynamics
Data4 Consortium Selected for €5 Billion Data Center Campus on Former French Steelworks Site
