German WW2 U-boat base in France reboots as data centre

Technicians work at the construction site of Interxion MRS3 data center installed in an old German submarine base built during the Second World War in Marseille, France, October 22, 2019. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier

PARIS (Reuters) - The thick concrete walls of a long-abandoned World War Two German submarine base in Marseille, southern France, are set to find a new purpose: keeping banks of computer servers safe and cool.

Dutch cloud services firm Interxion plans to invest 140 million euros to turn the "Martha Base" bunker - which was built in 1943 to accommodate up to 20 U-boats but was never completed - into a data centre for corporate clients. The first part of the restoration is set to be completed by March.