Summary
- Orange and Morrison entered an exclusivity agreement to create a contemplated 50/50 data-centre company in France.
- The proposed platform targets 400 MW of capacity and a €3 billion investment programme.
- Its starting scope would include five major data centres across four French campuses.
- Transaction signing is expected by the end of 2026.
- Closing is expected in the first quarter of 2027, subject to employee-representative consultation and required regulatory approvals.
Orange and Morrison have put numbers around a platform that does not yet legally exist. The contemplated 50/50 French data-centre venture targets 400 MW and a €3 billion investment programme, with five data centres across four campuses as its starting footprint.
The operative event is exclusivity. The parties have created a path to negotiate a jointly controlled company. They have not signed the transaction or closed it. That status determines how every capacity and capital number should be written: as a target, not a completed asset.
Signing is expected by the end of 2026. Closing is expected in the first quarter of 2027, and remains subject to consultation with employee representatives and the required regulatory approvals. Those are execution conditions, not ceremonial dates.
Fifty-fifty shares control before they share return
A 50/50 structure is designed to split ownership and joint control. It also makes governance a central operating question. Neither party can be assumed to have unilateral authority over investment timing, customer priorities or capital calls merely because the headline gives equal percentages.
The public announcement describes the intended platform, not a complete shareholder agreement. It does not settle in public copy how deadlocks would be resolved, what returns each party requires or how later funding obligations would be divided. Those terms will affect whether the 400 MW target can be pursued at the proposed pace.
The initial physical scope matters. Five data centres across four campuses give the venture an existing operational surface from which to expand. A platform with live sites can seek growth differently from a greenfield project because it starts with facilities and an established location footprint.
But “five data centres” and “400 MW” use different denominators. The first counts facilities in the proposed starting perimeter. The second is a future capacity target. The announcement does not state that 400 MW is installed, energized, contracted or occupied.
Three billion euros is a programme, not spent capital
The €3 billion figure describes the investment programme supporting the contemplated platform. It should not be reported as cash already transferred, committed in full or spent.
Data-centre capital becomes productive through a sequence: site control, power availability, permits, construction, equipment, commissioning and customer use. Each step can change timing and return. A programme can retain its headline value while individual projects move between phases.
The cost bearer also changes through the transaction. Before closing, the parties remain responsible for their existing businesses and negotiation costs. After closing, the joint company would pursue the programme under whatever final financing and governance terms are agreed. The announcement does not provide a completed funding schedule.
Customers benefit only when capacity is available at the required power density, location, connectivity and service level. A sovereign positioning based on French infrastructure can matter for locality and jurisdiction, but domestic location does not by itself prove every workload, supplier or control layer meets a customer’s sovereignty requirement.
The first milestones are legal, then electrical
The next evidence is not another capacity aspiration. It is transaction signing by the expected end-2026 window, followed by the consultations and approvals needed for closing.
After closing, the meaningful units become power and occupancy: megawatts secured, permitted, under construction, energized and contracted. Reporting those states separately will show whether the €3 billion programme is converting into usable capacity or remaining a portfolio target.
The proposal is material because Orange and Morrison are pairing a defined French footprint with a large expansion ambition. It is also preliminary. Exclusivity creates negotiating control over the opportunity; it does not deliver the joint company, the investment or 400 MW.