Overview
The Choose France Summit is France’s flagship annual foreign investment event, held at the Palace of Versailles under the personal chairmanship of President Macron. Launched in January 2018 as part of Macron’s broader campaign to reposition France as Europe’s leading investment destination, the summit has evolved into one of the most consequential industrial policy events in Europe — generating billions in announced foreign investment commitments and establishing France as the continent’s preferred location for strategic industrial projects in sectors from semiconductors to AI to clean energy.
The summit’s format is deliberately presidential: Macron personally chairs the gathering, which begins with a formal working lunch for 200+ global CEOs in the Hall of Mirrors, followed by bilateral meetings between the President and individual companies, and concludes with a formal dinner. The Versailles setting — grandiose, historically resonant, unmistakably French — creates an atmosphere that no other European government can replicate. France’s competitors for foreign investment — Germany, the UK, Poland, Spain — have noticed and attempted to create similar events, but none has achieved the Choose France Summit’s combination of presidential attention, media coverage, and peer-pressure investment dynamics.
France 2030 Role & Responsibilities
Choose France is not formally part of France 2030’s administrative architecture — it is an investment promotion event organized by Business France with Élysée coordination. However, its relationship with France 2030 is fundamental: France 2030’s financial incentives are the substance behind Choose France’s marketing narrative. When Microsoft announces a €4 billion AI infrastructure investment in France, or when TSMC expresses interest in European manufacturing, or when global pharmaceutical companies commit to French bioproduction facilities, the attraction is France 2030’s combination of grants, research infrastructure, and industrial ecosystem — not simply France’s geography or tax rates.
Investment Commitment Announcements: The primary function of Choose France is to provide a prestigious, high-visibility platform for foreign companies to announce investment commitments in France. These announcements benefit companies (political cover for major strategic decisions, executive visibility) and benefit France (international validation, pressure on other potential investors, media coverage). The commitments announced at Choose France summits are tracked, followed up, and reported by Business France to demonstrate France’s FDI performance.
CEO Network Access: For France 2030’s program designers and operators — SGPI, Bpifrance, DGE — the Choose France summit provides unique access to the senior decision-makers at major multinational companies. Informal conversations at Versailles often initiate investment processes that formal investment promotion activities could not have started. France 2030’s teams use Choose France access to understand investment barriers and refine program design accordingly.
France 2030 Sector Showcasing: The summit explicitly showcases France 2030 priority sectors — a recent summit featured a dedicated “France 2030 pavilion” at Versailles with demonstrations from French deeptech companies in AI, quantum, hydrogen, and biotech. This sector-specific showcasing ensures that foreign investors attend not only to make announcements but to discover French companies that could become partners, customers, or acquisition targets.
Diplomatic Investment Channeling: For some investment decisions — particularly those involving state-owned companies from Gulf states, China, or other politically sensitive investors — presidential-level engagement at Choose France provides the diplomatic imprimatur that makes complex investment decisions politically feasible. French investment screening regulations (FIRFI) and political sensitivities around strategic sectors require careful management; Élysée involvement at Choose France helps navigate these sensitivities.
Historical Choose France Summits
Choose France 2018 (January): First summit. €3.5 billion in investment commitments. Establishing the format and brand.
Choose France 2019 (January): €3.5 billion+ commitments. Themes included AI and digital transformation.
Choose France 2020 (January, Versailles): €4 billion. First summit under France 2030 preparation phase.
Choose France 2021: Virtual format due to COVID-19.
Choose France 2022 (May, Versailles): €7 billion+ commitments. First major France 2030-themed summit post-announcement. Included major commitments in EV (Stellantis), AI (Google, Microsoft), and health (AstraZeneca, GSK).
Choose France 2023 (May, Versailles): €13 billion. Commitments from TSMC (chip design center in Crolles region), Microsoft (€4B cloud and AI), and numerous manufacturing and clean energy investments.
Choose France 2024 (May, Versailles): €15 billion. Largest Choose France to date. Major healthcare, semiconductor, and clean energy commitments. Amazon €1.2B, LVMH manufacturing, multiple Asian industrial players.
Choose France 2025 (May, Versailles): Continuing the summit with France 2030’s midterm deployment period framing.
Leadership & Key Personnel
President Emmanuel Macron (Chair): Macron’s personal chairing of the summit is non-negotiable — the entire event is built around presidential access. His preparation includes personal briefings from Business France, bilateral relationship management with attending CEOs, and personal follow-up calls on major investment commitments.
Business France (Organizer): Business France manages all logistical and programmatic aspects of Choose France, coordinates investment commitment tracking, and provides diplomatic and technical support to attending companies.
Strategic Importance
Choose France’s impact on France’s FDI performance is significant but difficult to isolate from France 2030’s financial incentives. The summit creates peer dynamics that lower the threshold for individual company investment decisions: if Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have committed to France, the risk of a Japanese automotive company or Korean semiconductor player choosing France is demonstrably lower. This herding effect — institutional investors making it easier for the next company to commit — has been particularly valuable in France 2030’s semiconductor and EV sectors, where French government support packages are substantial but insufficient alone.