France continues to attract foreign investment; officials say decarbonized energy is a key driver

Central News Agency, Paris, May 31. The 9th edition of the 'Choose France' business summit, launched by French President Emmanuel Macron, will take place tomorrow. French Minister for the Economy and Finance, Roland Lescure, said today that one of the main reasons France continues to attract foreign investment is its development of decarbonized energy. The summit, founded by Macron in 2018 to attract foreign investment, will hold its 9th edition tomorrow at the Palace of Versailles. In 2025, new investments totaling 40 billion euros (approximately NT$1.47 trillion) were announced, including a collaboration between Foxconn, Thales SA, and Radiall SA in advanced semiconductor packaging and testing. Lescure guaranteed on a French media program today that 'the investment amount this year will be even higher.' It is expected that several foreign business leaders will announce various investment plans tomorrow. Lescure cited as an example that EDP (Energias de Portugal) will officially announce a 1.3 billion euro investment in renewable energy fields such as 'offshore wind power' and will cooperate with French energy company Engie. Lescure stated that this symbolic example proves that France continues to attract foreign investors, 'first and foremost because we are developing decarbonized energy, and that is the future.' Franceinfo mentioned that the abundant decarbonized electricity provided by France is crucial for the operation of data centers that require massive amounts of energy. Japan's SoftBank Group told French media that it will make a massive investment of 75 billion euros in France for artificial intelligence (AI)-related infrastructure. Lescure said that when he visited Japan with Macron in early April this year, they persuaded SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son to invest in France, noting that 'we worked hard for two months,' and one of the keys to securing the investment was decarbonized electricity. According to a survey released earlier by the financial audit firm EY, France has been ranked as the most attractive European country for foreign investment for seven consecutive years.