Amazon, IBM or even the German Hager: before the 7th edition of the Choose France summit this Monday, chaired by Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles, first information filtered out on Friday May 10 on the investments that could be announced there.
According to The echoes, Amazon “would like to spend 1.3 billion euros on a data center for its cloud subsidiary AWS and a warehouse for its e-commerce activities”, enough to create “3,000 jobs”. Contacted by AFP, Amazon responded that it had “no comment to make ahead of any possible announcement that would be made” at the Choose France summit. One of its vice-presidents, Russell Grandinetti, nevertheless appears among a list of guests at the event, consulted by AFP.
The American group IBM is expected to announce 45 million euros of investments in quantum computing and around fifty hires by 2025 on its Paris-Saclay site, according to a source close to the matter. Finally, the German electrical equipment specialist Hager, already established in Obernai and Bischwiller (Bas-Rhin), will invest “several tens of millions of euros” in France, a source close to the matter told AFP, confirming a log information The world.
In 2023, 28 projects were announced to Choose France for a total of 13 billion euros. According to the magazine The new factorysince the launch of this annual forum in 2018, 122 projects have been announced for a total of 31.9 billion euros, mainly relating to extensions of already existing sites.
180 foreign bosses expected
For the 7th edition of the summit, entitled “Land of champions” in reference to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the number of investment projects announced on Monday should be “record” according to the Elysée. This in a context where France will be very visible in 2024 – Games, 80th anniversary of the Landing, reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral – and against a backdrop of apparent economic recovery, growth and employment having defied more pessimistic expectations each increasing by 0.2% in the first quarter.
France in fact remained in 2023 for the fifth consecutive year the leading country in Europe for foreign investments, ahead of the United Kingdom and Germany, according to the EY firm barometer, with 1,194 project announcements, representing 39,773 job creation. Using a different methodology, Business France, France’s public economic promotion structure, even recorded 1,815 foreign investment decisions last year.
Some 180 foreign bosses are expected this Monday in Versailles, the maximum possible “to keep the event a reasonable size”, according to the Elysée, and allow them to each meet at least one French minister. Announced in particular are the directors of ArcelorMittal, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Coca-Cola, or even AstraZeneca and Novartis in the field of pharmacy, Envision and Air Products in the industrial field, and those of the Saudi or Qatari.
More than half will be non-European (20% North American and 20% Asian in particular) and around a third are coming for the first time. Around sixty French bosses are also expected.
A “very nice announcement” from Macron to come
Emmanuel Macron will start Monday with field trips in conjunction with Choose France. In particular, he will visit a factory in the Marne of the Canadian manufacturer of frozen fries McCain to make a “very nice announcement […] illustrating the impact of French attractiveness,” the Elysée said this Friday.
Announced at the beginning of the afternoon in Versailles, he will chair a round table on decarbonization and another on artificial intelligence and quantum. The president will also meet one-on-one with some bosses for whom a conversation with the head of state could prove to be “a decision-making decision” on “very important and very strategic” projects, explains we are on the side of the Elysée. After a plenary session with all the bosses, the president will finally receive the assembly for dinner in the prestigious Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles.
Choose France participates in the reindustrialization strategy of France desired by the executive, marked by an improvement in the tax and regulatory framework for businesses, according to the Elysée. “Have we already erased decades of deindustrialization? Obviously no, not yet. But the trend has been reversed,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal declared this Tuesday before the deputies.