It is a “record” harvest according to the Elysée. With 56 projects worth 15 billion euros, and the prospect of 10,000 jobs created, the announcements from the 7th Choose France summit on Monday touch on the key areas of artificial intelligence, decarbonization, but also health and finance. . 20 minutes tells you more about the projects revealed.
Artificial intelligence
The American giant Microsoft alone is contributing 4 billion euros, with a new data center in Mulhouse and the expansion of others in Paris and Marseille. He also wants to train a million French people in artificial intelligence and 2,500 start-ups in their adoption of AI.
Amazon announces more than 1.2 billion euros of investments to create more than 3,000 direct permanent jobs. They aim to strengthen its logistics network and support the development of Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure.
The Japanese Telehouse, world leader in high connectivity data centers, will allocate 1 billion euros to build and operate three new eco-responsible data centers in the South and Ile-de-France (100 jobs).
Decarbonization: fertilizers, fries, rare earths
FertigHy (Spain) wants to invest 1.3 billion euros in Languevoisin (Somme) in a fertilizer factory which would significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The Canadian frozen fries giant McCain, which welcomes President Macron to its Marne factory on Monday, will invest more than 350 million euros to modernize and increase the capacity of its three French sites, in Pas-de-Calais and the Marne.
The Belgian chemical group Solvay will spend 100 million euros to convert its La Rochelle factory to launch the first phase of a large-scale production unit of rare earths, essential for the engines of electric cars.
Green mobility
In particular, the German Lilium must invest 400 million euros in New Aquitaine to produce an electric regional plane and recondition the batteries of this plane. 850 jobs would be created. The European group Skeleton Technologies plans to invest 600 million euros and create 300 jobs to develop new generation batteries in Toulouse and then build them.
The Swiss start-up KL1 plans to set up a nickel refining plant in Blanquefort (Gironde), for 300 million euros, representing 200 jobs. The only Indian investor at the summit, Motherson, will invest 150 million euros in AD Industries (aerospace) in Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corèze).
Health, labs persist in France
The American Pfizer will devote 500 million euros to developing drugs and conducting new clinical trials, the British AstraZeneca 365 million euros to modernize and expand its factories and the other British GSK, 140 million euros to its sites of Evreux (Eure), Saint-Amand-les-Eaux (North) and Mayenne (Mayenne).
The Swiss Novartis will invest 28 million euros in nuclear medicine, with 25 jobs at stake.
Finance: new players
Ten projects “reflect the centrality of the Paris square”, according to the Elysée. In particular, the American bank Morgan Stanley, which grew from 150 to 400 employees in France in three years, will host its new European campus in Paris, creating 100 additional jobs.
New players such as First Abu Dhabi Bank, the main Emirati bank, and Zenith Bank, a Nigerian bank that has become one of the main Pan-African banks, are entering France.
Renewed investments
Nine recurring investment projects, in various areas, are seen by the executive as “confirming confidence in the French economy”.
Thus Vorwerk, the German manufacturer of the high-end Thermomix household robot, will invest 72 million euros near Châteaudun (Eure-et-Loir), where it already has a factory. Another German manufacturer, the electrical equipment specialist Hager, will invest an additional 120 million euros in its four Alsatian sites.
These renewals include Adecco (Switzerland, human resources), FedEx (United States, logistics), Procter & Gamble (United States, beauty, maintenance) and Sonae (Portugal, sustainable food).