TL;DRMacron and Modi are personally courting tech CEOs to secure AI infrastructure investment. Macron texted SoftBank’s Son to land a €75 billion data centre deal, and Modi secured $48 billion from Amazon after a direct meeting with CEO Jassy.
The global race for AI infrastructure has become a contest of personal relationships. French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have emerged as its most aggressive practitioners, personally courting the heads of the world’s largest technology companies to secure data centre investments that will determine where the next generation of AI systems are trained and deployed.
Their methods differ in style but share a common principle: the people who control the capital respond to direct engagement from heads of state, not policy papers. The results, so far, have been measured in tens of billions of dollars.
Macron’s method
Macron’s most significant win came in May, when SoftBank committed up to €75 billion to build 5 gigawatts of AI data centre capacity in France. The first phase, worth €45 billion, will deliver 3.1 gigawatts across three sites in the Hauts-de-France region by 2031, with state-owned EDF providing a former power plant in Bouchain as one of the locations.
