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Fifteen billion in foreign investments for France. More than double last year. President Emmanuel Macron claims a great success for the 2024 edition, the seventh of Choose France, the initiative that aims to raise foreign direct investments and which ended on May 13, as usual, with a major event in Versailles. The 56 projects announced, which could create 10 thousand jobs, are largely in line with the broad guidelines of the government’s industrial policy: Microsoft will employ four billion until 2027, Amazon 1.3 billion, Kkdi (artificial intelligence) a billion, while the agreements on decarbonisation are worth, overall, five billion.
Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Paris is an important hub for artificial intelligence and it is not surprising that Macron devotes the most efforts to it. With Choose France 2024, Microsoft has announced a large project (four billion) based on three pillars: the construction of a cutting-edge infrastructure in France, the training of French technicians and support for the country’s start-ups. The two existing centers will therefore be developed and a third will be created in the Moulhouse region. Amazon (1.3 billion) will instead build a data center for its subsidiary AWS, as well as a new warehouse, and will employ 3 thousand people. A new data center will also be created by the American Equinix (630 million) which already boasts an agreement with the French Parisian Alice&Bob in quantum computing. The Japanese KKDI will expand (with a billion) the existing plants in Paris and Yvelines and two new artificial intelligence centers in the capital region, the Ile de France, and in the south. Accenture will also invest in two new generative AI centers in the Sophia Antipolis technology park, near Nice, and in the capital for 100 new jobs. IBM, whose CEO Arvind Krishna dined with Macron, will dedicate 45 billion for a research center in Saclay, as will the Finnish IQM (quantum hardware), which seems to have chosen Bordeaux as its headquarters.
Decarbonization
The five billion euros earmarked for decarbonisation are intended to increase France’s energy independence. Beyond the rhetoric, the ecological concerns are limited: among the projects that have received investments, at least one is highly contested by the greens and the citizens of Gironde. This is a cobalt and nickel conversion plant, to be built right in the Garonne estuary (the Gironde, precisely). It has an ambitious goal: to cover 20-30% of France’s needs for the production of electric batteries by 2030. The 300 million investment, made by the Swiss Kl1, would provide work for 200 people. The chosen location, the Parc de Jalles, is in a largely protected area and would have an absolute level of danger (Seveso threshold). The authorities have banned the construction of homes in the area also due to the risk of flooding. It is no coincidence that the project involves raising the ground level, but environmental associations remain worried about the risks of pollution.
In any case, electric batteries cover an important portion of the approved projects. Estonian Skeleton Technology will set up a research and development center and a battery factory for 600 million and 300 jobs. An agreement between France’s Axens and China’s Hunan Changyuan Lico includes investments worth millions in a cathode company, creating 600 jobs. Lilium will also build its electric planes in France, along with a battery reconditioning plant, for a €400 million commitment.
The most important commitment, however, is that of the Spanish start-up FertigHy which will invest 1.3 billion in the Somme for the decarbonisation of agriculture.
Pharmacy
The commitment of the pharmaceutical companies continues, already very present in the previous editions of President Macron’s initiative in France. Pfizer will invest 500 million, after 1.1 billion in previous years, to strengthen its research and development centers in oncology and hematology. AstraZeneca, with 365 million, will proceed with the decarbonization of its industrial sites, while GSK will modernize its production centers with 140 million.
Banks and traditional industries
In the credit and financial sector, Morgan Stanley has recently inaugurated its new European campus and will bring the number of French collaborators to 500 while First Abu Dhabi Bank and the Nigerian Zenith Bank will open an office in Paris. In the traditional sectors, Vorverk will invest 72 million in the Châteaudun region while McCain (frozen potato products) will modernize its three plants in France with 350 million.