Foreword
Can Marseille solve France’s data centre bottlenecks?
France’s data centre market is at a turning point. Power limits, tougher rules and slower planning in Paris and the wider Île de France region are holding projects back. This is increasing risk earlier in the process and shaking confidence. As a result, more developers are now looking to the south.
France is not alone. Across global capital programmes, uncertainty is becoming the biggest threat to value.
Currie & Brown’s global research with more than 1,000 senior decision makers on major capital programmes shows how uncertainty destroys value in mission critical builds such as data centres.
In the 12 months prior to the research being conducted in May 2025, high-tech organisations, globally, reported average project pipelines worth £14.5 billion.
During that period, they lost 13.9% of potential pipeline value, around £2.4 billion per organisation, due to uncertainty. Disruption was widespread; on average 30% of projects were delayed, 34% were descoped, and 25% were cancelled.
The takeaway for data centre developers is clear: uncertainty erodes value long before ground is broken. Location strategy, early planning and regulatory clarity matter as much as technical design. Stronger front-end planning, earlier alignment and clearer governance can prevent much of this value erosion, especially when choosing locations with faster permitting and more predictable grid access.
Against this backdrop, attention is increasingly turning to south of France, particularly Marseille, and its growing role in reshaping France’s digital infrastructure landscape.