Microsoft is reportedly looking to build several data centers in Northern France.
La Voix du Nord reports the cloud company will be developing a facility outside Dunkirk in Quaëdypre in Hauts de Flandre, in the Nord department of Northern France. Microsoft is said to have told local officials it wants to build a data center on a 20.5-hectare site.
The publication also recently said the company is looking to develop two facilities in the neighboring department of Pas-de-Calais; one outside Calais in Vieille-Église and another further south in Zouafques.
The publication reports Microsoft has been in discussions to develop data centers in the area for several years. The company is yet to confirm any new developments, and further specifications and timelines weren’t shared.
Microsoft announced plans to develop French data centers in 2016, with its France Central Azure cloud region launching the following year. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced plans to spend €4 billion ($4.31bn) on data center infrastructure in France. A new data center was set to be built near the city of Mulhouse in the Grand Est region of eastern France, while the company’s existing sites in Paris and Marseille will be expanded.
The new Mulhouse facility, plus the upgrade work in Paris, will mean Microsoft has 25,000 GPUs for AI workloads available in France by the end of 2025, the company said. It did not elaborate on what sort of hardware it would be purchasing.
It was reported in March 2024 that Microsoft was considering a former car plant in Rennes, western France, for a data center project, though this plan was thought to be in its early stages and was not mentioned in May’s announcement.
