Macron’s Final ‘Choose France’ Summit Draws Record €93bn in Pledges

President Emmanuel Macron hosted the ninth and final ‘Choose France’ summit of his tenure at the Palace of Versailles on Monday, announcing a historic €93bn in foreign investment pledges — a sum that surpasses the combined €87bn raised over the previous eight editions. The flagship commitment came from Japan’s SoftBank, which said it would pour €45bn into artificial intelligence data centres by 2031, a project that Macron hopes will position France as Europe’s leading hub for AI infrastructure. The scale of the pledge, however, immediately raised eyebrows given the conglomerate’s mixed record on delivering past mega-projects.

Beyond the headline figures, the summit showcased a broad sweep of sectors. Pharmaceuticals, logistics, low-carbon steel and even food production featured among the 71 announcements, which the Élysée said would create more than 15,000 jobs. French officials underscored the diversity of investment as evidence that the country’s pro-business reforms are bearing fruit, though critics note that many of the projects are expansions of existing operations rather than greenfield ventures.

Viewed from London, the spectacle of a lame-duck president extracting such grand commitments carries an air of political theatre. Macron, who will leave office next spring, has made ‘Choose France’ a personal branding exercise since 2018, using the gilded setting to project an image of a dynamic, investment-friendly nation. Yet as Swiss commentators were quick to point out, the real test is whether the billions announced on paper translate into actual factory floors and server racks — a question that will fall to his successor to answer.

The summit’s record sum nonetheless reflects genuine momentum behind France’s AI drive. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son had signalled the investment over the weekend, and Paris has been courting tech giants with cheap nuclear energy and skilled labour. Still, the 2026 edition may be remembered less for the numbers than for what they symbolise: a last, determined pitch by a president racing against the clock to cement a legacy. With the global scramble for AI infrastructure accelerating, the true worth of these pledges will only become clear long after the Versailles chandeliers have dimmed.