Top-tier infrastructure

The density and modernity of the infrastructure facilitate reliable, fast and robust logistics throughout the country, facilitating industrial development, distribution and export flows.

France has:

• 2,700 km (1,680 miles) of high-speed rail lines out of a total of 28,000 km (17,400 miles) of track in operation (metropolitan France) (SNCF, 2023).
• 11,751 km (7,300 miles) of motorways and 9,473 km (5,890 miles) of national roads (metropolitan France) (Insee, 2024)
• 66 maritime commercial ports, including 11 state-owned seaports, which handle 80% of maritime merchandise traffic (metropolitan France and overseas France)

French ports offer strategic land reserves for hosting industrial activities (such as refining and petrochemicals, automotive manufacturing, electricity generation units). They play a strategic role in energy supply, with the presence of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals allowing bunkering with LNG.

This connectivity supports international supply chains.

France is establishing itself as a major technological hub.

• #1 European country for internet speed.
• 322 operational data centers.
• 63 sites identified for the installation of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.

The country is therefore responding to the growing digital needs of technological, digital, industrial or service activities.

Industrial development can be accelerated through dedicated mechanisms.

• 55 ready-to-use industrial sites.
• A national portal, France Foncier +, allowing businesses to quickly identify available land for the establishment of an industrial or logistics project.

These tools reduce administrative and operational delays.

Discover France Foncier+

By 2024, France had 1,041 district heating networks, extending over 7,944 km (4,940 miles) and with a thermal power of 27.1 GW.

These networks enable centralized energy generation, which is generally more efficient and less carbon-intensive than individual systems. They are powered by 62% by local renewable or recovered energy, and also utilize heat released by certain industrial processes, data centers and wastewater (Source: France Chaleur Urbaine).

Supported by the French government, heat networks are called to play a key role in the energy transition, with a target of 53 TWh to be delivered by 2030, including 75% renewable energy, and then 90 TWh by 2035 (80% renewable or recovered energy) (Multi-Annual Energy Program 3).