SUMMARY
The accelerating development of the digital economy, driven by the rise of artificial intelligence, cloud computing and the growing need for computing power, positions data centers as essential infrastructures. The Guide d'accompagnement - Implantation de centers de données published by the Direction Générale des Entreprises (DGE) in November 2025 aims to provide local authorities, landowners and investors with an operational, regulatory and strategic framework to facilitate their establishment on French territory. The issues covered are manifold: digital sovereignty, territorial attractiveness, environmental performance, land management, governance, taxation and electrical connections.
The document takes a detailed look at datacenter typologies, location logics, economic and environmental impacts, and government support mechanisms. On the other hand, it fails to take into account the skills and training requirements associated with their development, the full life cycle of the equipment or the insufficient analysis of regional tensions on the power grid up to 2030.
Keywords: attractivité territoriale, center de données, cloud computing, collectivités, data center, eau, économie, électricité, énergie, environnement, friches, foncier, IA, impact, implantation, intelligence artificielle, numérique, souveraineté numérique, ZAN.
