Inside Infrastructure: Focus on France

Overview 

The Choose France 2025 summit, held from May 19 to 21, 2025 at the Château de Versailles, was marked by several major announcements. The Choose France summit aims to promote the attractiveness of France and facilitate investment commitments in the country. Since its creation in 2018, the summit has generated €87.7 bn in investments and more than 163,000 jobs. 

 A total of 53 investment announcements were made, representing €40.8 bn. These investments are expected to create more than 13,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Among the 53 projects announced, three investments representing €20.8 bn give concrete form to commitments made at the Summit for AI Action in February 2025:

• Brookfield (Canada) is accelerating its commitment to AI infrastructure in France with the confirmation of the first AI hubs in Cambrai;
• Digital Realty (United States) with two major projects in France representing an investment of €2.3 billion and 750 direct and indirect jobs; 

In addition, on the occasion of the Choose France Summit, Bpifrance, the French national investment bank, and MGX, the UAE investment fund focused on artificial intelligence and advanced technology, together with generative AI leader Mistral AI, and world leader in AI accelerator chips  NVIDIA, announced the formation of a joint venture to establish Europe’s largest AI Campus, which will be located in the Paris region and is expected to ultimately reach a capacity of 1.4 GW. Together, the partners will develop Europe’s first purpose-built intelligence hub supporting the full AI lifecycle, from model training and inference to deployment of generative and applied AI systems. 

 Legal and regulatory news

1.  Draft bill related to the simplification of the economic life 

The draft bill contains 26 simplification measures of various kinds intended for businesses. It has three objectives: (i) radically reducing the burden of administrative procedures, (ii) reviewing the relationship between the administration and businesses, and (iii) streamlining regulations.

Specific provisions notably govern industrial and infrastructure projects. To encourage and facilitate the implementation of factories or energy transition projects, exemptions from common law are planned in various areas: installation of wind turbines or relay antennas, compensation for damage to biodiversity caused by development projects, particularly industrial projects, etc.

For industrial-scale data centers, the draft law provides, under certain conditions (e.g., data centers of a particular importance for digital transition, ecological transition, or national sovereignty, notably based on the investment size, installed power, or role in fostering competitive domestic ecosystem), for them to be classified as projects of major national interest, which shall speed up certain procedures (compatibility of urban planning documents, connection to the electricity grid, recognition of imperative reasons of major public interest). The draft bill includes specific safeguards: data centers operated or owned (directly or indirectly) by entities governed by the legislation of non-EU countries that do not offer an equivalent level of personal data protection to that of the European Union cannot benefit from this designation classification. 

The National Assembly has adopted the draft bill on 17 June 2025. The bill is now pending review by a joint committee (commission mixte paritaire) of the National Assembly and the Senate expected to convene between July-September 2025. 

 2. Potential extension of Foreign Direct Investment regime 

Greenfield investments are currently excluded from the French FDI control regime, but accounted for 47% of FDI projects in France in 2023. As a consequence, the National Assembly published a report on 22 May 2025 recommending, among other measures, an explicit extension of FDI oversight to include such investments. The report warns that this exclusion poses a strategic risk to France’s fundamental interests, particularly concerning critical infrastructure sectors such as telecommunications networks, energy facilities, and sensitive industrial sites.

The French Government shall now answer to the recommendations from the National Assembly before end of August.  

 Focus on nuclear 

Precisely with respect to the nuclear sector, the French government focuses on different nuclear topics including the construction of new nuclear reactors and a reform of the law on nuclear waste management, with a view to preparing the future of the sector. The purpose of the bill is notably to strengthen operators' responsibilities for fuel recycling and environmental risk reduction.

On 10 June 2025, the French government has signed a new strategic contract for the period 2025-2028, which marks the revival of the nuclear industry. The aim is to guarantee France's energy sovereignty, strengthen its industrial competitiveness and accelerate the fight against climate change. This contract reflects the ambition to revive nuclear power in France by:

• extending the life of existing nuclear reactors beyond 50 years, then 60 years;
• the construction of six EPR2 reactors at the Penly, Gravelines and Bugey sites;
• the launch of a study for the construction of eight additional EPR2 reactors by 2050.

 Latest energy and infrastructure deals and opportunities

Hy2gen AG, a global producer of renewable hydrogen with assets in France, announced on 30 April 2025, a €47m capital increase led by Hy24, a global asset manager in the low-carbon hydrogen sector.

This full equity transaction will accelerate the deployment of Hy2gen's portfolio of projects in the field of renewable hydrogen production and its derivatives in Europe, Canada and South America, with a view to reaching final investment decision (FID) and preparing for the construction phase. In France, this investment is expected to accelerate the development of critical renewable hydrogen and e‑fuel projects — including in Fos‑sur‑Mer and Gardanne-Meyreuil — thereby reinforcing France’s strategic leadership in the emerging green hydrogen sector. 

Guyot Environnement, through its subsidiary Guyot Énergies, is partnering with Idex Group, an energy services provider, to build a local, low-carbon industrial heating plant to supply the Bunge factory in Brest. The investment cost is €70m. This large-scale project, supported by ADEME, will enable energy to be produced from recovered solid fuels consisting of non-recyclable waste collected in Brittany: plastics, paper, cardboard, soiled textiles, etc.

In March 2025, the US oil company ExxonMobil announced it had entered into exclusive negotiations with North Atlantic France SAS to sell its 82.89% stake in Esso S.A.F. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and the finalization of financing agreements and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025. 

In June 2025, the French government signed a new 30-year concession contract awarded to GL events for the operation of the Stade de France. This nationally significant project aims to modernize the stadium, enhance its sustainability and programming, without relying on public funding.

And finally…. Real Asset or Fake News?

Well done to everyone who didn't get tangled up in our CloudNet  in the last post.

This week our focus in on renewable energy. Some truly impressive facts below, but which is too good to be true?: 

One third of the way there: In 2023 renewables accounted for just over 30% of global electricity generation.

Green Africa: Ethiopia is the biggest producer of hydropower in Africa, contributing to over 98% of its electricity generation in 2023 being from renewable sources.

China tops the tables: China leads the world in watts of electricity generated from solar power, wind power and hydro-electric power.

A nation of optimists: Britain has installed more solar-panels per capita in the last decade than the rest of Europe combined.

 As always, we will publish the answer in our next post.