Macron and Modi Go Direct to CEOs for AI Infrastructure Deals

French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are skipping the usual trade delegation playbook and going straight to chief executives to lock in AI infrastructure investments. The results include a €75 billion SoftBank data centre programme for France and a record $48 billion Amazon commitment for India.

Macron hosted SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son during the G7 Summit in June. Two months earlier, the French president personally requested a meeting with Son and continued discussions through text messages while the proposal was being finalized, according to CNBC. Macron highlighted France's nuclear-powered electricity supply and pushed SoftBank to scale its planned data centre from 2 gigawatts to 3 GW. "His team, the government team is very supportive," Son said. SoftBank now plans to develop 3.1 GW of AI data centre capacity in France by 2031, part of a broader €75 billion programme targeting 5 GW across Europe.

Modi met Amazon CEO Andy Jassy last week and secured a $48 billion investment commitment, with $21 billion earmarked for AI and cloud infrastructure. Over the past year, Modi has also held discussions with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, each confirming support for expanding India's digital backbone. At the Global AI Summit in February, Modi told executives, "India does not see fear in AI. India sees fortune in AI. India sees the future in AI." He urged them to "Design and Develop in India for the world."

India's AI ambitions still face a structural gap. The country lacks domestic frontier-model development and remains dependent on imported AI chips and models. That leaves its entire AI buildout exposed to US and European export controls. The government has introduced long-term tax incentives for hyperscale data centre operators and is promoting domestic semiconductor manufacturing. During Modi's visit to the Netherlands in May, Dutch chip equipment maker ASML agreed to provide advanced lithography systems for a 300mm semiconductor fabrication plant being developed by Tata Electronics. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who met Modi in December, agreed to become a prospective customer for chips produced by that plant.

France's advantage is simpler. Macron can offer low-carbon nuclear power at scale, a factor that increasingly drives data centre location decisions as energy costs rise. SoftBank's Son explicitly cited electricity availability as a deciding factor. France's challenge is speed: permitting and construction cycles for large facilities can run three to five years. The government has streamlined some rules. Bottlenecks remain.

For investors tracking these stories, the question is how quickly the headlines translate into revenue. MSFT carries an Alpha Score of 46, reflecting neutral near-term positioning despite the scale of the India buildout. ASML scores 70, a moderate reading that suggests the lithography deal with Tata is already partly priced into expectations. The hyperscalers themselves are the direct beneficiaries. Microsoft announced its largest Asia investment for India's sovereign AI. Google committed $15 billion for its biggest AI hub outside the US. Amazon matched that scale with a $48 billion pledge covering years of infrastructure spending.

A data centre takes 12 to 18 months to construct after the ground breaks. Power purchase agreements and equipment orders matter more than the headline investment announcement. Hiring data is also a lead indicator.

Tata Electronics is developing a 300mm semiconductor fabrication plant with ASML's lithography systems. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the company would be a prospective customer for chips produced there.