Brookfield Infrastructure Partners plans to spend €20 billion ($20.7bn) on AI infrastructure in France over the next five years, most of which will be funneled into its data center business Data4.

The asset manager made the announcement on Monday to coincide with the International AI Summit currently being hosted by France, which will see world leaders gather in Paris to discuss issues surrounding the technology’s development.

According to Brookfield, €15bn ($15.5bn) will be given to Data4 to build out its network of data centers in France. The company has existing plans to grow its data center footprint in France from 375MW to 500MW, and will now aim to increase this by an additional 1GW over the next five years. This is likely to include new data centers in "several regions of France," a Brookfield statement said.

The rest of the money will be spent on boosting data transfer infrastructure, buying additional AI chips and funding energy projects.

Olivier Micheli, CEO of Data4 group and president of the French Datacenter Association, said investing in AI data centers is "no longer an option but an absolute necessity" for France.

Micheli said: "Thanks to the €15 billion announced by the investment fund Brookfield, we aim to triple our data center capacity in France by 2030, making the country Data4's leading European market. Only a strong public-private cooperation will boost innovation and mobilize the capital needed to make France the European leader in AI.”

Based in Canada, Brookfield manages assets worth $850bn. Digital infrastructure is currently a small part - but growing - part of its portfolio, and its data center investments include DCI Data Centers in APAC, Compass Data Centers in North America, and Data4 in Europe.

Established in 2006 by Colony Capital (now DigitalBridge) and owned by Brookfield since April 2023, Data4 currently operates around 30 data centers in France, Italy, Spain, Poland, and Luxembourg. According to the company’s website, this includes three campuses in Paris, which host 30 data centers offering combined capacity of 375MW.

In January it revealed it had raised €3.3bn ($3.4bn) in debt financing, €1.1bn of which will be used for new projects.

News of Brookfield’s planned investment comes months after the firm was reportedly looking to sell a minority stake in Data4, a move it hoped would raise €3.5 billion ($3.8bn.)

Brookfield’s investment was welcomed by French president Emmanuel Macron, who said France will announce private investment in AI totaling €109bn ($112.5bn) over the course of the summit.

“The €20 billion investment by Brookfield notably through Data4 will allow France to remain in the race alongside major AI players,” Macron said.

The €109 billion figure includes a joint commitment signed by France and the United Arab Emirates last week, which will see €30-€50 billion ($31-52bn) invested in AI infrastructure including a new 1GW data center to be built at an undisclosed location in France.