Data4 Confirms €5 Billion Plan for 700MW AI Data Center on Former Steelworks in Northern France
June 15, 2026
Data4 Confirms €5 Billion Plan for 700MW AI Data Center on Former Steelworks in Northern France
Data4, the Brookfield-owned data center developer, has confirmed plans to build a €5 billion ($5.8 billion) campus with a capacity of 700MW on the site of a former steelworks in northern France, marking one of the largest single-site AI infrastructure projects in Europe. The announcement underscores France’s accelerating push to position itself as the continent’s leading hub for artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure.
The campus will be located in the city of Escaudain, within the Hauts-de-France region, at the Soufflantes industrial park, which was previously home to the Usinor steel factory. The site has been vacant for 45 years. Data4 said the project will be its largest data center to date, and the land was identified by the French government as one of 35 turnkey sites available for data center development, offering a fast-track power grid connection via the RTE network.
“We are delighted to bring our project to life in the Hauts-de-France region, a highly strategic area and a major connectivity and communication hub for Europe,” said Olivier Micheli, CEO of Data4. “With the support of national and regional authorities and La Communauté d’Agglomération de La Porte du Hainaut, we will be able to revitalize this territory through the digital industry and build the sovereign, sustainable, and competitive infrastructures that France and Europe so urgently need.”
Data4 said further studies and preliminary construction work will take place over the next year. The initial building will be followed by up to four additional facilities, though the company has not disclosed a timeline for the full build-out or the capacity of the first phase. Aymeric Robin, Mayor of Raismes and President of the local authority, said the project aims to “erase the last remnants of an industrial era and open a new, more technological chapter,” adding that residents will benefit from job opportunities in fields such as healthcare, services, and security.
The development has drawn attention from the highest levels of government. French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the news on LinkedIn, writing: “This is the result of Choose France: reindustrializing, training, innovating and promoting our territories.” France has been making concerted efforts to become Europe’s capital of AI infrastructure, and this project aligns with broader national ambitions to attract large-scale digital investment.
Data4, founded in 2006 by Colony Capital (now DigitalBridge) and acquired by Brookfield in April 2023, currently operates more than 30 data centers across France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Germany, and Greece, totaling approximately 1.5GW of capacity. Last year, Brookfield announced a €20 billion ($20.7 billion) investment in French digital infrastructure over five years, most of which will be channeled through Data4. The company is also exploring another hyperscale campus in northern France on a former air force base at Cambrai, signaling sustained momentum in the region’s data center boom.
Source: datacenterdynamics
