• Orange will contribute five French facilities to the new venture as it looks to boost capacity tenfold
• The telco is aiming to expand its sovereign AI and cloud services in France
• New Zealand infrastructure investor Morrison to provide equity and expertise

Orange has partnered with global infrastructure investor Morrison to launch a new €3bn datacentre joint venture (JV) in France. The 50/50 venture will aim to boost Orange’s current datacentre capacity to 400 megawatts (MW) – nearly 10 times its current size, according to the partners’ announcement. 

The venture will be supported by a €3bn investment programme, consisting of Orange’s existing assets, Morrison’s equity contribution, and debt, with the transaction expected to be signed by the end of 2026 and closed in the first quarter of 2027.

Orange will contribute five major datacentres across four French locations – Chevilly-Larue, Aubervilliers, Chartres and Val-de-Reuil – alongside its operational expertise and commercial reach, while Morrison has agreed to make an unspecified “equity contribution”. 

For Orange, the move aligns with its ambition to support French businesses by providing sovereign, trusted digital infrastructure to tackle surging cloud and AI demands. Orange Business is expected to be the exclusive distribution partner for the JV’s colocation and hosting services for large enterprises, SMEs and public sector entities.

Commenting on the proposed JV, Orange CEO Christel Heydemann said: “This contemplated joint venture with Morrison will allow us to unlock the value of our existing assets and strengthen our position in datacentres. Together with a partner recognised for its expertise and investment capacity, we will accelerate the deployment of the capacity that the market needs. This is fully aligned with our ‘Trust the Future’ strategy: Making trust a real competitive advantage and accelerating our growth in trusted digital solutions for businesses.” 

Trust the Future is Orange’s new three-year growth strategy, announced in February, which included the ambition to find “innovative growth” by building on its existing infrastructure to scale its service offering. It also outlined growth plans in B2B, through which it aims to generate an additional €500m in revenues by 2028, from products and services such as sovereign AI and cloud.

The partnership with Morrison will be built on growing demand to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty, though it is worth noting that Morrison is a New Zealand-based company. Founded in 1988, its portfolio includes Infratil, UK operator Kao Data, CDC Data Centres, and Vodafone New Zealand.

“Europe’s digital future will require significant new investment in trusted infrastructure capable of supporting the growth of cloud services, artificial intelligence and data-intensive applications,” stated William Smales, chief investment officer at Morrison.

“Together with Orange, we are contemplating the creation of a platform that combines strategic infrastructure assets, operational expertise and long-term capital to meet that challenge. We believe France is exceptionally well positioned to play a leading role in Europe’s digital economy and this partnership represents an important step towards building the sovereign infrastructure needed to support future growth and competitiveness.”

Last year, the Financial Times reported that Orange was looking to sell off either part or all of its datacentre business, which consists of around 75 facilities across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Bloomberg reported it was looking to raise around €400 to €500m from such a transaction. 

This isn’t Orange’s only move in this space, with the French telco having announced in May that it is partnering with rival Iliad Group (alongside Ardian, Artefact, Bull, Capgemini, the EDF Group, and Iliad’s cloud services division, Scaleway) to bid for a €10bn EU AI gigafactory project in France.

- James Pearce, Editor, TelecomTV