Orange and infrastructure investor Morrison have signed an exclusivity agreement to set up a joint venture in which each partner will hold a 50 per cent stake. The new entity is set to take over five Orange data centres operating across four French campuses and increase their combined capacity to 400 MW in the long term – almost ten times the current level. The €3 billion programme is to be financed using Orange’s assets, Morrison’s equity and debt. The transaction is scheduled to be signed by the end of 2026, with completion expected in the first quarter of 2027, subject to obtaining the necessary approvals.
The project responds to the rapidly growing demand for computing power for artificial intelligence and cloud computing. CBRE forecasts that the vacancy rate in European data centres will fall to a record low of 6.5 per cent by the end of 2026, despite the commissioning of new facilities. JLL, meanwhile, estimates that 83 per cent of the capacity under construction in Europe’s major markets is already contracted, and that AI could account for half of data centre workloads by 2030.
For Orange, the project offers the opportunity to expand its infrastructure more quickly without having to finance the entire programme itself. It may also strengthen Orange Business’s offering to businesses and public sector organisations. For France, this is another element of its strategy to build its own AI infrastructure and increase European control over digital infrastructure.
The investment could result in greater availability of local computing power, increased competition and the attraction of further cloud projects. At the same time, the 400 MW scale will increase pressure on the electricity grid, land availability and the planning permission process. The project’s success will therefore depend not only on demand, but also on access to energy, the pace of implementation and cost control.
