Confirming reports in the La Tribune Dimanche newspaper, the announcement comes as Paris prepares to play host to a global summit of political and tech industry leaders on the technology on Monday and Tuesday.

With the world hurrying to stay abreast of the AI race dominated by the US and China, countries are competing to build the vast buildings housing the swathes of data needed to train AI models up.

According to La Tribune Dimanche, €15 billion is earmarked for erecting new centres, with a “mega-project” in the northern city of Cambrai as its crown jewel.

That deal was inked in on Jan 31 by French President Emmanuel Macron and Brookfield’s CEO Bruce Flatt, the paper reported.

The other €5 billion is to be spent on “associated infrastructure”, notably the energy generators needed for the data centres, which consume massive amounts of electricity.

Already on Thursday, the French presidency said that the United Arab Emirates would build a giant data centre in France for a total outlay of €30-50 billion.

Once built, that AI “campus” would be the largest in Europe, but its location is yet to be set out.

France currently boasts more than 300 data centres.

That would make it the world’s sixth-largest host country, after the US, Germany, the UK, China and Canada, according to a report by the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council.

The summit Monday and Tuesday comes weeks after US President Donald Trump’s administration trailed a US$500 billion plan for investment into AI infrastructure led by OpenAI and its backer SoftBank.