Taking advantage of its geographical position on the shores of the Mediterranean, which has already given it the status of a major commercial port, France's second city is at the crossroads of digital data flows in an increasingly connected world.

No less than 17 submarine cables land there today, raising Marseille from 44th to 7th place in the world in data capacity in less than 10 years, according to the specialist firm Telegeography.

And the Marseille city aims to be fifth soon, approaching the top three Frankfurt (Germany), London, Amsterdam (Netherlands).

As a result, data centers are proliferating there.

Five have already been installed, including four from the world leader Digital Realty (via its subsidiary Interxion).

Their customers, such as video-on-demand platforms, are eager for the super-fast connections offered by the proximity of cables.

But these infrastructures are big consumers of energy and square meters and the Marseille municipal majority (left and environmentalists) shows its concerns.

"The market wants to go extremely fast, it's a sector with double-digit growth and margins", analyzes Laurent Lhardit, socialist deputy to the mayor, delegate for the economy and digital, who counted "11 projects" on the city.

"And new ones are coming".

submarine base

However, "we have a large deficit of economic land, it is necessary to make arbitrations", underlines the elected official.

But data centers have financial means against which "nobody can fight".

As a result, "about fifty companies in the productive sector" wanting to set up or expand in Marseille, with "about 3,000 jobs" at stake, could not have done so, says the elected official, citing the case of this maintenance company, particularly naval, which is always looking for a solution.

Another point of concern, the energy gluttony to power and cool these behemoths: "It brings uncertainty to the electrification of ships at the quay", the city's battle horse, especially for ferries and ships under repair which for the moment are running their engines, causing pollution, fears another deputy mayor, the ecologist Sébastien Barles.

Assuming a "slightly more radical" position, he asked, with the environmentalist MEP David Cormand, for a moratorium on the installation of new data centers, to reflect at the Community level on "eco-conditionalities", even a taxation.

The municipality does not go as far, but requests a "master plan" from the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis on future locations.

Fabrice Coquio, president of Digital Realty France, refutes the concerns.

Land ?

"We have not consumed a square meter, on the contrary we have rehabilitated a place that has not been used for 75 years," he says, referring to the former German submarine base, which hosts one of their data centers, two others are also on the port.

On the energy side, he notes their cooling by recovering runoff water from a former coal mine.

"No reflection on sobriety"

And to praise the creation of "nearly 500 jobs", including 85 direct.

Not to mention those expected from his “clients”, whose investments he estimates at two billion euros, in addition to the 500 million invested by Digital Realty.

For Mr. Coquio, continuing the development of the Marseille hub is obvious: "The growth of data is +140% per year, we still have to organize ourselves a little. (...) But if a at some point we say to ourselves that, for lack of vision, it is better to invest in Barcelona, ​​we will do it. It would be a shame for France".

Sébastien Barles, he regrets this "unbridled extension of digital": "There is no reflection on sobriety. It's up to us to think about it".

In 2019, "nearly 4% of global carbon emissions were due to the production and use of the digital system", compared to 2% for civil air traffic, according to the think tank Shift Project.

"It is the attractiveness of the territory which is at stake", assures on the contrary Martine Vassal, LR president of the metropolis and unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Marseille in 2020. For her, by developing the hub "we will be able to bring groups, company headquarters.

Attentive to the future of the file, the State services have already organized several meetings with the various actors.

A new one is expected in the coming months.

© 2023 AFP