How many data centers are located in France?
Long in the shadow of American giants, France is now making its mark as a leading player in European IT hosting. Between issues of sovereignty and ecological transition, the data center sector in France is undergoing profound change. Here is how many data centers are located in France and how this industry is evolving to support our digital economy.
How many data centers does France count?
In 2025, France rose to third place in Europe in terms of the number of data centers, just behind the United Kingdom and Germany. The country had 321 data centers in November 2025. Globally, France ranks fifth behind the United States (4,165 data centers), the United Kingdom (499), Germany (487), and China (381).
The growth in France has been spectacular. At the end of 2024, installed capacity reached 714 megawatts, an increase of 40% in just one year. And this is only the beginning. France Datacenter forecasts predict a capacity of 4.3 gigawatts by 2035.
This growth is supported by massive investments. Between 2025 and 2030, no less than €16 billion will be injected into the sector. These investments are intended to finance the construction of new buildings, as well as the purchase of servers and the development of cutting-edge software. Beyond investments in equipment, data centers are a real driver of employment in the country. The industry has already created more than 48,000 jobs (including 30,000 direct jobs).
The race for the most strategic locations
Not all regions are in the same boat. Currently, the Île-de-France region dominates the French data center market. In 2024, it accounted for between 75% and 80% of installations, a figure that is expected to fall to 40% or 50% by 2030. Three new regions are attracting investors: Hauts-de-France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Marseille (and its surrounding area) is also a major hub for data centers in France. Bouc-Bel-Air, a few kilometers from Marseille, will be home to a brand new site in 2027. It will be the largest in the department and the sixth to be built around Marseille. As for Google, it will open its first French data center in Indre, covering more than 195 hectares.
How are locations for data centers chosen?
The choice of location for these infrastructures is not determined at random. Operators prioritize the following five criteria when setting up their data centers in France:
● Available electrical power: the energy consumption of infrastructures is colossal, so it is necessary to have a solid and sufficiently large network. The possibility of sourcing renewable energy is also a plus for reducing the carbon footprint.
● Connectivity: proximity to submarine cable networks is essential to limit latency and meet the needs of businesses (mobility, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, etc.).
● Construction costs: Building facilities to house servers and other IT equipment is expensive. Construction costs are therefore a factor that should not be overlooked. Converting existing buildings is one way to limit costs and enhance property value.
● Security: Data centers must be protected from natural hazards, but also from potential intrusions in order to guarantee the security of user data and service continuity.
● Climatic conditions: To protect buildings, but also to enable infrastructure cooling, particularly through free cooling (using outside air to cool inside air).
Prospects for data center development
Data centers will continue to develop in France in order to meet new digital needs. On the one hand, infrastructure will continue to be set up as close as possible to users in order to guarantee fast response times, particularly for everyday online services. On the other hand, the rise of artificial intelligence is changing the logic behind their location: servers dedicated to AI consume a lot of energy, but are less sensitive to distance.
This dual dynamic paves the way for a more balanced distribution of data centers across France. To support this development, the French government and the electricity transmission network operator (RTE) have identified four “fast track” sites. Located close to the very high voltage network, they enable rapid connections and offer electrical capacity of between 400 and 1,000 MW.
Location trend: edge data centers on the rise
Another strong trend is emerging in French mapping: Edge Computing. This trend involves processing data as close as possible to the source, i.e., as close as possible to businesses and their users. This proximity is essential for connected objects (IoT) and applications requiring an instant response. Rather than sending everything to large data centers in Paris, for example, data is processed locally, reducing network congestion. The impact of these new requirements can be seen in the development of edge data centers, located as close as possible to the data and therefore spread across the entire country.
Expansion that must take environmental regulations into account
The exponential annual growth of data centers in France must take into account a major challenge: their carbon footprint. These infrastructures consume a lot of electricity to run the servers and, above all, to cool them. But France has a major advantage here: more than 92% of its electricity is carbon-free (according to RTE's 2023 Electricity Balance Sheet). However, market players must continue to make efforts, as digital technology is responsible for 4.4% of the country's carbon footprint and data centers are the second largest source of pollution in the sector (after terminal equipment such as smartphones, tablets, computers, etc.).
UltraEdge : des edges data centers avec un fort ancrage local
In this context, new players such as UltraEdge are focusing on proximity and sustainability. Our medium-sized facilities meet both the sovereignty needs of French companies and ecological requirements. By establishing themselves locally, our proximity data centers limit their environmental impact while guaranteeing high-performance service for French digital technology. We currently have 250 sites across France and are constantly improving our processes to reduce our environmental impact while offering a high-quality, secure service to our users.