Altarea Group subsidiary Nation Data Center has broken ground on a mixed-use project that includes a data center with 7MW of IT capacity in Vélizy-Villacoublay town, north-central France.

The project will be designed to support AI and high-performance computing workloads. Nation Data Center said the facility will have a PUE of 1.2 and use direct liquid cooling, with waste heat recovered by Vélizy district heating network.

The development also includes 365 social student housing units and four local shops. Nation Data Center says the data center’s waste heat will contribute to the heating of the student residence.

Nation Data Center describes itself as a hosting provider offering a sovereign, responsible, and locally based data center network across France.

The developer currently has two operational data centers in Rennes, France, and is currently building two more in Rouen and Paris, with operational status expected in 2027.

Altarea, the real estate investment firm that owns Nation Data Center, recently partnered with Vantage Data Centers to build a 400MW data center campus in Bordeaux, France.