Colt DCS has broken ground on its second data center in France.

The facility, Colt Paris 2, is the first of three data centers planned for a 12.5-acre site in Villebon-sur-Yvette, southwest of Paris.

It is part of a €2.3 billion ($2.58bn) investment in French infrastructure, which will see five data centers constructed by 2031, bringing Colt’s IT capacity in France to 170MW.

Colt Paris 2 is being designed to meet the needs of the company’s enterprise and hyperscale customers. A €400 million investment, it will offer 40MW total capacity, with more than 100kW per cabinet.

Powered by 100 percent renewable energy, the data center will take a hybrid approach to cooling, combining traditional air cooling with liquid-to-chip technology.

According to Colt, zero water waste will result from the cooling process, and the facility has been designed to recover waste heat for use by the local community.

Niclas Sanfridsson, CEO of Colt DCS, said: “Breaking ground at Colt Paris 2 is the exciting next step in our long-term commitment to France and its thriving digital economy.

“This project not only implements our innovative new design, but it also demonstrates our dedication to sustainable growth and innovation. By investing in renewable energy contracts and supporting the local community through waste heat reuse, we are helping to fulfil the growing demand for cloud and AI services while setting new standards for environmental responsibility.”

At the groundbreaking event this week, attended by DCD, the company noted that the site has been in planning since 2021. Originally set to use air cooling, the site is set to offer liquid cooling at the behest of the unnamed anchor customer.

The site will feature 1,975 sqm of rooftop solar deployed. As well as heating its own office components, the facility will also make its waste heat available to an upcoming district heating network.

Colt declined to name the site's hyperscale customer, but it is rumoured to be Microsoft.

The new campus, at 18 Av. du Québec in Villebon-sur-Yvette, is based at a former Microsoft office campus. The cloud company had long exited the site, and the so-called Papillon Building ("Butterfly Building") is set to be demolished in a future phase of development.

Offering both hyperscale and colocation space, the site is set to host PAR2, PAR3, and PAR4. PAR2 is due live in 2028, with PAR3 offering 36MW and PAR4 12MW; the latter two are both due to launch in 2029.

The scheme will create 300 construction jobs and 100 permanent data center-related roles, Colt said.

Colt already has one data center in Paris, in the suburb of Les Ulis, which offers 24MW. The site, launched in 2001 within a former cold storage warehouse, saw a second building launched for a hyperscale customer in 2023.

Two other upcoming data centers, PAR5 and PAR6, at another new campus nearby in Les Ulis, are set to offer 45MW and 14.4MW from 2030 and 2031, respectively.

Spun off from Colt Technology Services in 2015, Colt DCS’s data center portfolio includes 13 operational facilities, with an additional nine in development, across 11 cities in the UK, Europe, and the APAC region.